Bookwyrm
by Jerot
Summary: Harry James Potter is the premiere Slytherin student coming into his fifth year at Hogwarts. Between OWLs, Quidditch, and inter-house rivalry, will he find the time for romance? AU fic where the potters are still alive, H/Hr. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

- - -

Harry James Potter had finally arrived at Platform 9 ¾!

After the _longest_ time with his parents, he was going back to school. Not that it was all that bad, of course. There was his birthday, when Draco, Blaise, and Teddy all came over to play Quidditch with him - his parents got him a Firebolt! His father had gotten Sirius and Professor Lupin to join in the game. They had lost, of course, but only because there was no snitch. As much as his dad hated to admit it, Harry was now a better seeker than he was.

Harry looked up and down the platform to find his Slytherin mates. Immediately, he spotted Theo, who had drown prodigiously over the summer. Now well over six feet tall, he towered over the bustling first and second years and their parents.

"Oi, Theo!" Harry called out. The tall boy jogged over, smiling. "You've seen Draco or Blaise?"

"Hey, Harry." He replied, a little out of breath from lugging a bag nearly as large as he was. "Dunno. I think Blaise is on the train, saving us a seat. Draco's probably at the prefect meeting."

"Told you!" Harry said triumphantly "Draco's always kissing up to the teachers. There's no way he would have picked someone else."

"But I heard you got Quidditch Captain" Theo replied. "Congrats, mate! You deserve it."

"It's nothing." Harry waved off dismissively, but inside he was glowing with pride. He wasn't entirely sure that he would get the position. Draco was as good if not even better as a leader.

"He's my son, Theodore, there was no way that he couldn't be the best player in his house!" James Potter injected himself into the conversation. "I just wish you were heading up Gryffindor like your old man, Harry. Ow!" Lilly Potter took that exact moment to stomp, quite hard, upon her husband's foot. After whispering something in James' ear, she turned back to Harry, smiling.

"We've got to go, honey. Ministry business and all." She explained, apologetically smiling for her husband's comment. "Don't forget to write!" After making some quick goodbyes, Harry's parents left the way they came in.

"You'd think after five years, they'd get off your case for being in Slytherin." Theo commented smoothly.

"Tell me about it." Harry replied, his tone suggesting that Theo's comment was a massive understatement. "I had to deal with that all summer." It was true. His parents did love him, they were just a bit disappointed that he had been sorted into Slytherin rather than Gryffindor. Boy, was that a surprise when they found out.

- - -

"_**Potter, Harry" McGonagall called from her list of names. Immediately, the hall went silent. Everyone knew who James Potter was, and if possible they expected even more from his son. Gulping, Harry stepped out of the line and walked as steadily as he could towards the hat. Every step was measured perfectly, as the boy was terrified of tripping and making a fool of himself.**_

_**Stepping up, he sat on the stool, and McGonagall dropped the hat upon his head, which quickly dropped down past his eyes, and almost to his chin.**_

"_**Hm…" The hat whispered in his ear. "Bright… so very bright… you have such a thirst for knowledge. You would do well in Ravenclaw. Or maybe Hufflepuff, your kindness would fit you in well there."**_

"_**But!" The hat stopped. Harry knew that he would be sorted, but still he couldn't shake the irrational fear that the hat would flat out refuse to place him in a house. "Still, you have ambition beyond compare! And such bravery too! You're willing to do what it takes to be strong."**_

"_**My choice is clear, then."**_

"_**Slytherin" The hat yelled out. An even more stunned silence fell upon the hall for a couple of seconds before the Slytherin table erupted in raucous applause.**_

_**As Harry walked towards the Slytherin table, he couldn't help but feel the piercing gaze from all the professors at the head table. Did they expect him to be in Gryffindor like his parents?**_

"_**We got Potter!" They yelled, jeering victoriously at the other tables in the great hall. Sitting down with his fellow Slytherin, Harry smiled. He felt at home with the snake.**_

**- - -**

"Harry! Teddy!" Zabini popped his head out of a compartment as the boys made their way down the train car. "In here! I saved you guys spots."

"Thanks." Harry muttered as he tried to jam his bag into the alcove above the seats. With a bit of effort, it uneasily fit in the spot.

"So, Teddy told me you were made Quidditch Team Captain." Blaise remarked to Harry. "Congrats, man!"

"I know!" Harry beamed. Professor Slughorn was the best Head of House at Hogwarts. He was great with all the Slytherin students, and on top of that, the Slug Club meant great food. "With Pucey and Montague gone, I need to host Chaser tryouts. Either of you interested?"

"Nah." Blaise replied, shaking his head vehemently. "I don't want to jinx our team's chances of winning. I do fine when we're playing for fun, but I don't think I could handle being on the school team."

"Oh, come on!" Theo cajoled his buddy, slapping him heartily on the back. "It'll be fun! And even if you don't make it on the team, at least you'll pick up some hot chicks." Theo's eyes glazed over slightly at the though of some pretty arm candy he'd earn by being on the house team.

"Yeah" Harry sniggered "I hear Davis has a thing for chasers!"

Both Harry and Theo burst into laughter as Blaise just frowned. "That's not funny, you guys."

"Ooh!" Theo called out. "Blaise has a thing for _somebody!_"

"I bet he wishes they were a pair of 'star cross'd lovers'" Harry laughed.

"Romeo and Juliet end up killing themselves." Blaise deadpanned. "Did you even _read_ the book for Muggle Studies?"

"Not taking the class." Harry replied, smirking at his friend. Blaise always complained about the workload as if it was going to kill him. "Dropped end of last year. It's a boring class. But sometimes we watch stuff on the telly at home. I think it's boring, but my mum insisted we had one."

"So, Harry." Theo asked, trying to change the subject. Muggle stuff bored him. When they had signed up for muggle studies in third year, he showed up for one class, then promptly dropped it in favor of Arithmancy. "Who's your special someone? I heard you broke it off with little Ravenclaw Turpin."

"Yeah," Harry fidgeted in the seat. It was still a bit of an uncomfortable subject for him. "She thought I wasn't taking my classes too seriously, and we got in a big fight. We didn't write each other over summer, so I think it's over. But that's not important."

"You said you dropped Muggle Studies." Blaise said. "You change any other classes?"

"Nah." Harry replied. "I was only taking Runes and Arithmancy with Muggle Studies. Divination's a joke and as for Care of Magical Creatures…"

"Hagrid's an oaf who doesn't know the proper side of a blast-ended skrewt?" Theo filled in.

"No…" Harry trailed off, searching for the right thing to say. "Well, yeah, he's an oaf, but he's a nice oaf. I kinda feel bad for him, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah." Theo dismissed the thought. He wasn't against non-purebloods, but the groundskeeper had given them a lot of grief first year when they tried throwing his pumpkins into the lake to lure out the Giant Squid. "Like I always say, you're too nice for your own good, Harry. One day, someone is going to take advantage of you and leave you on your ass."

"If they do, I'll kick their arse." Harry replied, soliciting a hearty laugh from the three boys.

The door slid open to reveal one Draco Malfoy, prefect badge and all.

"Hello, boys," Draco smirked, making sure to push out his chest and draw attention to said article. "Fare well without me?"

"Hey, Draco." Harry smiled. "You know, I made Team Captain."

"Good." Draco smiled honestly. Even though Draco was a glory-seeker, he genuinely enjoyed it when his friends succeeded as well. "That means you can use the prefect bathrooms, unlike the commoners." He glanced pointedly at Blaise and Theo.

"Hey!" Theo rose his hands defensively. "We get it! Just don't lord it over us all year."

"Nah, it'll be great!" Blaise rubbed his hands together mischievously "We can confiscate prank stuff from the students, then use it on the Weasel twins. I'm sick of them out-pranking us each year!" All of the boys nodded in agreement to this. Ever since they picked on the Weaslette second year, the entire brood had been on them.

In a lull in the conversation, they heard a large thump, then a familiar voice yell "Bloody hell!" Smirking, the boys all moved to the door and stepped out into the corridor, where a one Ronald Weasley was picking himself off of the ground.

"Don't be so angry, Weasel." Draco drawled "I'm surprised you're even able to walk with those huge feet."

"Shut up, Malfoy" Ron growled.

"What's the matter, Weasley?" Harry smirked at the Gryffindor "Can't think of anything clever without your precious Granger around?"

It was at this point that the very girl Harry had been speaking about stepped out into the corridor. "Leave him alone, or I'll give you all detention. Your parents would love to hear about that, wouldn't they?"

Deciding that it wasn't worth their effort to continue, the boys just smirked and turned back to their compartment, feeling confident in their victory. That was, until Weasley had the gall to mutter "Bet your parents hate you for being in Slytherin, eh, Potter? Such a let down?"

In the blink of an eye, Harry had his wand out, pointed directly at the redheaded boy. "What did you say, Weasel?"

"I said," Ron said, pulling out his wand as well "that you must be a pretty piss poor son. Do your parents even-"

But Ron wasn't allowed to finish the sentence as Harry bellowed _"Confundo!"_, a jet of light flashing past the Gryffindor who jumped to the side as soon as he saw Harry open his mouth. He fired back with a loud _"Furnunculo!"_, and Harry threw himself to the side to avoid the attack. Luckily, no one was caught by the spell as it bounced around the cabin.

"Stop it!" Hermione yelled, "Or I will give both of you detention!"

"Leave it, Granger." Draco drawled. "Harry's dueling for his honor here. It'd be disrespectful for you to intervene, _Mudblood._"

Hermione gasped in indignation at the insult. Even though Voldemort was long gone, and most wizards focused less on blood purity, the vulgar term was slung about enough around her to be offended. Pulling out her wand, she stepped between the two combatants. "You two, I'm serious! Stop it this-"

However, Harry was unable to stop in time, his _"Stupefy!"_ punctuating the red beam of light that hit Hermione square in the chest. The witch crumpled to the floor as both Ron and Harry stopped, at a loss of words for the turn of events.

"That's enough!" Professor Lupin stormed down the corridor. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves! Ronald Weasley! I know that you must uphold Gryffindor honor at all times, but that does not permit you to duel in the corridors of the Hogwarts Express. Detention for a week once we begin school, and fifty points from Gryffindor! Same goes to you, Potter, and I'll send a letter to your parents about this. They won't be pleased."

"But Professor!" Ron exclaimed. "He stunned Hermione!", pointing to the unconscious girl on the floor.

Lupin turned, looking at Harry questioningly. Harry shrugged, knowing that it couldn't get much worse. Of course he felt bad about hitting Granger, but it wasn't like it was his fault. He didn't know it was going to happen. "I didn't mean to hit her, she tried to step in between us and stop the fight."

"How noble of her…" The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher murmured "Ten points to Gryffindor for her bravery in trying to stop a fight. And this is why we don't duel in the corridors, Potter. _Ennervate_" Lupin helped up a groggy Hermione, and handed her to Ron. The two hobbled back to their compartment, glaring daggers at the Slytherin. Professor Lupin turned back to Harry, giving him look. Harry turned and nodded, and the three other Slytherin boys retreated to their own compartment.

"Harry, you really need to stop this kind of stuff" Remus told Harry. He was Remus now, because it was just them, and he was talking to Harry as a family friend "I know, it's fun to fight at school when you're young, but eventually, you're going to look back on this and realize what a huge mistake it was. You're just like your father -"

"I get it!" Harry yelled. "I hate it when you compare me to my dad. We're not the same person!"

- - -

_**It had been a week since Harry had been sorted into Slytherin. He had, of course, sent a letter to his parents telling them where he had been sorted. Not that it really mattered now, he had already been sorted into the house. But still, he dreaded the letter that was bound to return. His father was most definitely going to be pleased.**_

_**From what he saw from his week at Hogwarts, he wasn't so sure why his father thought that Slytherin was a bad house. Harry had already made lots of friends within the house, and Professor Slughorn, their head of house, was really nice. He had even already been invited to the Slytherin professor's Slug Club.**_

_**In fact, the real jerks were the Gryffindors. Especially the Weasleys. They were easy to pick out - red hair, freckles, second-hand robes. Percy, the oldest, didn't seem too bad. Maybe he was a bit unnecessarily terse with Slytherin students, but always strictly within the rules. **_

_**The twins, however, were a nightmare for Slytherin students. Harry learned very quickly not to open any mail he wasn't expecting, after a package arrived courtesy of Fred and George packed with dungbombs exploded unceremoniously in his face. **_

_**Ron wasn't nearly as clever or polite as his other brothers, and just seemed to pick fights with Slytherin whenever and wherever he could. Which lead to the Slytherin boys goading the Weasel whenever they could.**_

_**This breakfast, Harry looked up and saw his parent's owl swooping down, dropping a letter from his parents in his lap. Gulping, Harry opened it quickly.**_

**Dear Harry,**

**Thank you for telling us what house you were sorted into. Honesty is very important in our family, so we're very grateful that you had the courage to tell us.**

_**Harry laughed humorlessly. That part was definitely from his mother.**_

**I must admit, I was quite disappointed when I heard the news. I even talked to Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, but they wouldn't even consider transferring you to Gryffindor. Apparently, the Sorting Hat doesn't take too well to them disregarding his sorting. Anyways, I guess I'll just have to give up on it. You're still my son, whichever house you're in.**

_**Harry began to seethe. They went to Dumbledore!? Did they even consider that he might have been happy where he was? All the Gryffindors seemed like prats anyways. He almost didn't continue the letter, but saw that the next section was written by his mother.**_

**Harry, please know I didn't support your father in that, but it's hard to change his mind once he's set on something. Anyways, we hope that you're enjoying Slytherin, and will see you for Christmas break!**

**Love,**

**Mom and Dad**

_**Harry crumpled up the note and left it under the table. Let the House Elves deal with it, he rationalized. He was going to go hang out with his new friends. His **_**Slytherin**_** friends.**_

_**- - -**_

Harry slammed the door shut to the cabin as he returned to his friends.

"That was rough, man." Blaise remarked. "A _week_ of detention before school started? And points taken off? You should talk to Professor Slughorn. He might be able to talk down Professor Lupin for you."

"Nah." Harry waved it off, making it quite clear he wasn't comfortable with the subject. Whatever Lupin dished out, it was completely his fault. "I deserved it. If I hadn't hit Granger, I'd agree with you. But as annoying as she was, I shouldn't have hit her."

"Harry, you softie!" Theo punched him in the arm. "Feeling bad for a Gryffindor? You'll have to get rid of those feelings quick, before they beat you up for it."

"Just leave off it." Harry scowled. He really didn't like where this was going, and wanted to head them off as quickly as possible. The three other boys backed off immediately. They knew it was no point to push Harry when he was in that mood.

Quickly, the subject was changed, and the boys laughed the rest of the way to Hogwarts.

- - -

The train pulled into Hogwarts late that evening. As usual, Hagrid, the overly large groundskeeper ushered the first years to the boats. Harry, Theo, Blaise and Draco all took the horseless carriages up to the castle. They all knew that they were drawn by Thestrals, of course, but thankfully, they had never partaken in witnessing a death. From what they heard from the students that could see them, they really weren't something someone wanted to see anyways.

Joking all the way up to the castle, the boys hopped out of the carriage laughing heartily. Quickly hopping up the flight of stairs, they entered the grand hall and made their way to their usual spots at the Slytherin table. Draco made a show of saving a seat for his girlfriend, Pansy, who gave him a quick peck on the cheek. The rumble in the hall slowly crawled to a halt as Professor McGonagall opened the doors to the great hall, leading the new first years up to the front.

Harry, Draco, Blaise, and Theo looked at the group of first years appraisingly. Some of them were to become Slytherin. Harry just hoped that they would be worthy of the noble name, whomever was chosen.

- - -

Another year, another haul. None of the new Slytherin students really stood out; no legacy kids like it had been in their year. It'd take weeks, even months for them to sort out which ones were worth anything. On top of Quidditch and Homework, it would prove to be a near impossible task.

Later, after singing the Hogwarts song (somewhat reluctantly), the boys headed down to the dungeons to unpack before the firsties clogged up the common room.

- - -

By the second day of being back at Hogwarts, Harry's parents had found out about the duel on the train. Looking up during breakfast, he saw his parent's owl swooping down with presumably a howler. Harry gulped. He had received howlers from his parents before, and not a single time was it a pleasant experience.

Accepting the letter, he opened it quickly. It was better than waiting for it to explode. As soon as he broke the seal on the envelope, it came to life, folding into a mouth-like shape. His mother's voice, twisted by the howler charm began to screech at him.

_**Harry James Potter! How **_**dare**_** you fight on the train! Count your lucky stars that you only got **_**one**_** week of detention! You deserved a lot more for what you did!**_

Harry shrunk into his chair. At this point, the hall was silently observing the scene unfold.

_**And stunning that girl! Even if you didn't mean to, that's horrible! You had better apologize to her right this instant!**_

And just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, his father's voice took over.

_**If something like this happens one more time, Harry, I will talk to Professor Slughorn about removing you from the team! I mean it, son, if you don't clean up your act, you're in for a whole lot of trouble.**_

Deflating like a balloon running out of air, the red envelope fell to the table, inert. Harry's parents' owl left once the howler concluded its message. There was a deafening silence in the great hall.

Then, the Gryffindor table erupted into sniggers and chortles. There was no lost love between Harry and Gryffindor. Every year that he had been seeker, Slytherin crushed them in Quidditch. Massaging his forehead, Harry realized what this meant. The Gryffindors would picking fights with him all year, just to get him off the team.

"Bummer, mate." Draco said to his friend, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder.

_Thanks, Mom, Dad. _He thought bitterly as he picked up his books and left the great hall. OWLs, Quidditch, and Gryffindors breathing down his neck? He'd be lucky if he made it to Christmas.

- - -

A.N.: This is a test chapter for my full fanfic, Bookwyrm. It's a HHr romance with Harry in Slytherin. Not sure how common these are, but I've never seen one. If I get enough reviews, I'll post the next chapter sometime after New Year's. The only reason I'm putting this up is because I feel that my writing has gotten to a level where it's readable (my other attempts were flat and boring. They didn't even make it to here). So, if you want this to continue, please review! Reviews mean that people are interested, which means that my writing is good, ergo I should write more.


	2. Chapter 2

"Mr. Potter, would you have a word with me after class?" Professor Slughorn asked. Harry sighed.He was_not_ looking forward to a confrontation about the train fight with his Head of House.

Finishing up his potion early, he put some of it into a vial and put it onto Slughorn's desk. At least he could appease the professor with his potion making abilities.

Slughorn immediately picked up and brought it to his eye. "Ah, perfect, Harry. You truly did inherit your mother's brilliance for potions!" Harry smiled. When Professor Slughorn called him by his first name, it almost always turned out well for Harry.

"Look, class. Mr. Potter here has completed the antidote early. See the slightly greenish tint? It's indicative of…" He pulled out the stopper and sniffed a bit. "Mint? Oh, Harry, what a brilliant addition! Mint counteracts the gallic quality of the potion and reduces the chances of Antidote poisoning. Where did you figure that out?"

"Potions theory, Professor…" Harry grinned. "I did some extra potions work at home over the summer. _Boyle's Practical Additions to Practical Potions._" Yeah, that talk with Professor Slughorn was going to go well.

All of Gryffindors fifth years scowled at Harry. But Harry didn't care. The dungeons was the one place where he was truly untouchable by them.

"Excellent! Excellent, my boy. Twenty points to Slytherin." Slughorn beamed. Looking down at his watch, he let out a noise of exclamation. "Oh, class ends in five minutes! Make your final additions to the potion and submit it to the front of the class."

- - -

"You wanted to talk to me, Professor?" Harry asked as Slughorn opened the door to his office. Inside, it was cluttered with gifts from all kinds of persons. Putting a bottle of dragon's blood on the table, Harry cleared the chair for himself and sat down.

"Yes, Harry." Slughorn sighed as he eased down into his armchair. "I have heard… unfortunate things about your train ride here. Professor Lupin gave me the details of it, and I must admit that I'm very disappointed in you, my boy."

"It's not my fault though!" Harry exclaimed. "Weasel - I mean Ron Weasley was talking about my parents! He started the fight!"

"Still, you're a Slytherin, my boy." Slughorn replied. "Slytherin are… above such petty conflict. You should have kept better control of yourself. And this is even more important now. Gryffindor will be out for blood after the whole thing with Miss Granger, even if it was an accident."

"Yes, sir…" Harry said.

"But that's not why I asked to talk to you." Slughorn explained. "I wanted to talk to you about Quidditch for this year. It's definitely going to be a big year for you with OWLs and such."

"I'm willing to commit." Harry replied without hesitation. "Slytherin will _not_ end it's winning streak just because I'm a bit busy with schoolwork. There's no-one else who's good enough to lead us to the Quidditch Cup. It has to be me."

"That's what I wanted to hear, my boy!" Slughorn exclaimed. "One part ego, three parts determination! When do you want to have the field to do tryouts?"

Harry paused. He hadn't thought about that, yet. "Dunno. Maybe Saturday afternoon? I've got it off."

"Excellent! I'll request the pitch for Saturday afternoon." The Slytherin Head of House told him. "If you could, make an announcement in the Common Room. I want the best of what we have to be on the team.

"Of course, sir." Harry said. "If you'll excuse me, Professor, I'm late to Transfiguration."

"Oh!" Slughorn exclaimed. "Look at the time! Here, let me write you a pass to your next class…"

- - -

**_It was no surprise when the letter of acceptance to _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ arrived by owl at the Potter residence. Harry's name had been in the books as soon as he was born. With parents like James and Lilly Potter, how could he _not_ be a wizard? But all the same, Harry's parents took joy in the moment._**

**_Grinning, Harry's father slipped away from the breakfast table for a moment, returning with an overly large oblong package. "Go on, Harry" James encouraged him "Open it. It's an early birthday present for getting into Hogwarts"_**

**_Ripping open the package, Harry revealed a shiny, new broom_. _"A Nimbus 2000!" He exclaimed "It's supposed to be the fastest broom ever made! Thanks Mom! Dad!" Harry hugged his parents._**

**"_That's not all" Harry's father told him "I've talked to Professor McGonagall, and she's agreed to let you practice with the Gryffindor team during first year so you can play on the team year after next."_**

**"_James" Lilly replied tersely "He might not be in Gryffindor, you know. I was almost sorted into Ravenclaw."_**

**"_Well, I'd be fine with whatever house you're sorted into." James told Harry. "As long as it isn't Slytherin or Hufflepuff!"_**

**"_James!" Harry's mother exclaimed, punching him in the arm. They all had a good laugh at that. Harry smiled. He couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts!_**

- - -

"What did Slughorn want, Harry?" Draco hissed in a whisper across their desk.

"Quidditch tryouts." Harry replied in a similar manner. "We've booked the pitch for Saturday."

"Mister Potter! Mister Malfoy!" Professor McGonagall called tersely. "Is there something you wish to share with the rest of the class?"

"No, Professor" They both mumbled, and got back to work.

- - -

"Harry Potter!" A familiar voice called out as Harry was heading down the corridor to the great hall. He turned around to see a one Lisa Turpin.

"Hullo, Lis" Harry mumbled. He really wasn't in the mood for this right now. "What do you want?"

"I heard about what happened on the train!" She replied "You're such a jerk! It's over between us."

"Oh." Harry said sheepishly. "Okay."

"What do you mean, 'okay'?" Lisa demanded, glaring at him. "You're supposed to be upset!"

"I thought we broke up last year." Harry replied. "You can't take away something I already thought was gone."

"You're such a prat, Potter!" And with that Lisa - no, Turpin, stormed down the corridor.

"Wow!" A voice called out from behind Harry. He groaned, recognizing it to be a one Ron Weasley. Was it 'Out to get Harry day'? "Never knew you were such a heart-breaker Potter! Gonna go steal some candy from a baby?"

"Sod off, Weasel" Harry growled, stalking down the hallway.

- - -

"You will both be cleaning out the dungeons." Professor Slughorn explained to Harry and Ron. "No magic, I'm afraid. But cheer up, boys, it's your last detention!" Harry gave a halfhearted smile. Being stuck in detention with the Weasel was still torturous.

The last class in the dungeon must have been first or second years, the ground was coated in foul ichors. Wrinkling their noses, the Gryffindor and the Slytherin got to work.

The work was grueling. Still, they somehow managed to get through it with a large number of scrubbing implements and water. After a couple of hours, they had completed their work, and Professor Slughorn excused them for the night.

Waiting outside the dungeons for the Weasel was Granger. "Come on, Ron." She called out, sparing a glare at Harry. "You've still got that essay for Transfiguration."

As Harry stalked away back to the dorms, he heard Ron reply exasperatedly "But Hermione! It's not due till day after tomorrow!"

Harry smirked at this interlude before turning the corner and shuffling down the stairs to the Slytherin common room.

- - -

"So, you got everything?" Theo asked Draco. Smirking, the blonde pulled out a hefty bag from the foot of his bed. Pouring it onto Theo's bed, it revealed countless fireworks, dungbombs, and other prank items.

"I think we've got enough." Harry remarked to his friends.

"Geez, how many Filibusters did you haul?" Blaise asked exasperatedly.

"More than I can count." Draco drawled. "And this is just what I've pulled so far. We've got more than enough to prank Gryffindor. Any takers?"

"Yeah" Harry smirked. "I've got a great one. Here's the plan…"

- - -

The next morning, Blaise, Draco, Theo, and Harry all went down to breakfast together. Just to make sure they would get a clear view of the Gryffindor table, they got down to the great hall a bit earlier than the typical rush.

The hall quickly filled with the students, who sat down for breakfast as normal. All the Gryffindors were up bright an early, as usual. Granger was helping the Weasel with some homework or something. And that's when the owls came.

At first, there didn't seem to be anything suspicious. There were a rather large number of owls, yes, but nothing out of the ordinary. Then, as they dispersed across the hall, it quickly became evident that there was an unusually large concentration over the Gryffindor table. Many of them were school owls, holding large satchels, which they dropped onto the table. Many of the Gryffindors stopped what they were doing, and looked down at the bags. That's when the boys got to work.

Waving their wands under the table, they set off the fireworks. Filibusters Fireworks, Dungbombs, and even Dragonstars erupted into the air above the table. The explosions above the table spelled out

**Superprats**

Hanging over a large S encased within a diamond shape.

Most of the students scratched their heads at this, but the muggleborn students just cracked up. Even Granger, despite being a prankee, had a little laugh at it before promptly explaining it to Ron.

Harry, Draco, Blaise, and Theo grinned and mentally patted themselves on the back. This year's prank wars had just started, and they had fired the first volley… literally!

- - -

Harry had the afternoon off, and a disturbingly large amount of homework to take care of. So, naturally, he went to the library to work. Picking up his study materials from the Slytherin Dormitory, he made his way to the ancient fixture of Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, as soon as he entered, he noticed that his 'ex' Lisa Turpin had set herself up at his usual seat. Which meant he had to go to great lengths to avoid her as much as possible. Harry eventually situated himself in the back of the library, far away from the scathing gaze of Turpin (or Turpey as his friends liked to call her).

However, it did not seem like today was a good day for Harry as Granger and the Weasel sat down one table over from him. Not that it was too annoying to be sitting near Granger - she at least was quiet. What really got to Harry was how loud Ron was, even in his quietest whisper. He could hear every word of Ron's conversation.

Harry tried his to concentrate, but despite his best efforts, he was unable to think straight. The Weasel was blathering on about the Transfiguration essay that was due soon, something about getting Granger to help him look over it or something. As time passed, their argument got a bit more heated, and the Gryffindor quickly forgot to whisper. Sighing, Harry slammed his book shut and got up from the table. Enough was enough.

"Oi, Weasel" Harry stage whispered once he got to the table. "I think the lady said no. So either shut up or get the hell out. Some people need to work."

"I don't need your help, Potter!" Granger hissed, but Ron stalked off anyways, in a fowl mood.

"Who said I did it for you, Granger?" Harry inquired with a tone of superiority. "I just wanted to get some work done, and troll boy there was getting on my nerves."

"Why are you Slytherin so mean?" Granger snapped, looking quite upset.

"You remember what happened on the train, Granger." Harry replied "Your Gryffindor friend started the fight there. Us Slytherin just poke and prod, Gryffindors go straight for the jugular."

There was an audible silence. Apparently, Granger decided to ignore him. Sighing mentally, he decided to suck it up and do what his parents told him to do "Sorry, Granger."

Her head whipped up in surprise, her eyes boring into Harry inquisitively "What?"

"I said sorry." Harry said, shuffling uncomfortably. "For hitting you with that stunner on the train. I didn't meant to hit you, and you shouldn't have gotten hurt. It's my fault and I'm sorry."

"Well," She huffed "Thank you for the apology. That's very… polite of you."

"Yeah." He replied "Unlike Weasel."

"Just get back to work." She said, making it quite clear that there would be no more conversation between the two of them. Sighing, Harry left the table and got back to work.

- - -

_**The afternoon after the Hogwarts acceptance letter had arrived, the Potters flooed to Diagon Alley by way of the Leaky Cauldron. After saying their hellos to Tom, they exited out the back and entered the quant little market that was Britain's most prominent Wizarding territory.**_

_**Harry and Lily waited outside of Gringotts while James withdrew the gold from the account. At the age of 10, goblins frightened Harry somewhat, and the carts used to transport customers were downright terrifying to him.**_

_**First step was a trip to Ollivander's - which, according to the sign, had been making fine wands since 382 B.C. . Harry had been anticipating the visit to this shop ever since he knew what a wand was.**_

"_**Hello, hello" Olivander exclaimed, noticing the new arrivals. "I shall be with you in just a moment! Just need to finish wrapping this up!"**_

_**Ollivander's customer was a small girl with bushy hair, accompanied by a giant of a man.**_

"_**Hello, Hagrid" James said politely.**_

"'_**ello, James, Lily." Hagrid replied. "Getting a wand fer little Harry?"**_

"_**Yes." Lily replied "And I assume you're on a Hogwarts run yourself?"**_

"_**Ah, yeah." Hagrid said "This is Hermione. Her parents are muggles, so Dumbledore asked me to help her take care of her shopping."**_

"_**All done!" Ollivander exclaimed, handing the boxed wand to Hagrid. His parents politely said their goodbyes and Hagrid and the little girl left.**_

"_**You know," James said to Harry "She'll be in your year. Maybe you'll be in the same house, eh?"**_

"_**Now, let's see…" Ollivander broke in, evaluating Harry. Running back to the shelves behind the counter, he pulled out a wand. "Let's try… this!"**_

_**Harry opened the box, and held the want in his hand.**_

"_**Well, give it a wave!" Harry's father said encouragingly. Harry gulped, and twirled it. The flower vase on the counter shattered.**_

"_**Sorry!" Harry yelped, startled by the small explosion.**_

"_**No worries!" Ollivander beamed as he waved his wand, fixing the glass. "Nobody ever expects to find their wand on the first attempt. These sort of things are expected to happen."**_

_**And they continued to try to find a wand for young Harry. Box after box was piled up on the counter as their efforts were increasingly frustrated. However, Ollivander seemed to get happier and happier as they continued the quest.**_

"_**A tough customer is my favorite kind." He exclaimed at one point through the search.**_

_**After a long time, Harry discovered his wand. Eleven inches Holly, nice and supple, with dragon heartstrings, "Last of the batch." Ollivander remarked as he wrapped up the wand. Apparently, the little girl who had come in before them had also bought a wand with heartstrings from the same dragon.**_

_**Smiling, the Potters paid Ollivander for the wand, and left the store, to continue their shopping.**_

- - -

"All right!" Harry yelled to the group of Slytherin students gathered before him. "You're all here for one thing - you want one of the two Chaser Spots!" The entire group nodded, Blaise and Nott among them.

"Well, it's not going to be easy!" Harry continued "Only two of you are going to make the team! I'm here to make sure that we only pick the best two! It's my first year as captain and I'm not going to have this be the year our winning streak ends! So, it's simple - fly well and you're on the team, or blow chunks and go cheer in the crowds! Am I clear?" A large chorus of agreement ran through the group.

"Then, mount your brooms and form a line!" Harry yelled to the group "You'll take the quaffle from the starting line, pass it back and forth with Warrington. You'll attempt a goal on Malfoy. All the while, Crabbe and Goyle will be hitting bludgers at you. If you miss, you're out. If you make the shot, you get back in line! The last two are on the team! Got that!"

Immediately, they formed a line. Crabbe, Goyle, Warrington, and Malfoy kicked off and got into their positions.

"Releasing bludgers… now!" And with that, Harry removed the straps on the murderous black balls, and they whizzed into the air menacingly. "Here's the quaffle!" Harry threw it up to Warrington, who was forced to dodge a bludger that got a bit too close for comfort.

First up was a second year, Prichard if memory served. He was quickly dispatched by a bludger from Goyle; definitely not team material. Next up was another second year, Baddock, who did pretty well, spinning expertly to avoid the Bludgers. A clean fake-out on Malfoy secured him a spot in the line again. Harry grinned as the next player started their run: he knew this was going to be a great year.

- - -

A.N.: I finished this a bit earlier than I planned because of a bit of unexpected free time (and such great encouragement).

First, I'd like to say thanks to all you who have read and/or reviewed Bookwyrm. 13 reviews for just one chapter is really encouraging for my first fic up on here, and I hope it continues to be successful as I continue to write. I'll take some time here to answer some questions:

Paganimagus: Don't assume anything has happened the way it happened in the books. I'll explain Voldemort in later chapters, once I've established Harry's setting a bit more. If you've noticed, I spend a lot of time on little flashbacks in each chapter. I haven't completely decided on what happened to old Voldy, but you'll find out in time. I'll give you this tidbit, though: I'm debating whether or not to use the TriWizard tournament as a device for 7th year. You'll find out more about that once I've decided myself.

Perfect Story Searcher: I am trying to pace this pretty slowly - I want this to be 100k+ once I'm done. The plan is to do 5th, 6th, and 7th year in this piece, and maybe do Auror School as a continuation in a second fic. Each year will be 5 chapters leading up to x-mas, and 5 chapters after the break leading to summer. Depending on how much I feel I can fit in, there may be chapters for winter and summer break, but no guarantees. If I keep my rate of 3,000 words/chapter, that'll be about 30,000 words/year for Harry, though I'm hoping to gradually make my chapters longer.

Nightwing27: I'm just going to put this out now so you guys all know: I do _not _do house switching. I've never seen it done well, so I don't even pretend I have the skill to make it look good. And I want this to be a good fic, so I won't dare ruin it biting off more than I can chew.


	3. Chapter 3

From the chaser tryouts, Harry picked up two decent chasers in the way of Malcom Baddock and Blaise, who blew through the competition. Theo was quickly eliminated and went to the bleachers to put his moves on the female admirers. By the time everyone was leaving the pitch, he was snogging some fourth year who Harry wasn't familiar with. Harry snorted, remembering Theo's quip on the train about how 'chicks dig Quidditch players'. Apparently he was right about that.

Draco glanced over at Harry, a mischievous look in his eyes. Both nodded, knowing exactly what to do. Walking up to Theo, they waited until the couple separated and turned to look at them.

"You know," Harry smirked "You could do a lot better then Theo here."

"He didn't even make it onto the Quidditch team, you know." Draco drawled superiorly.

The girl's face became furious as she slapped Theo in the face. "You liar! You told me you were made chaser!" And with that she stormed off, leaving Theo to glare at his friends.

"Oh yeah" Theo scowled "Very mature. Couldn't you two have just kept your mouths shut?"

"Well," Harry replied, barely containing his laughter "It seems that you couldn't."

Theo just didn't say anything and stormed off, leaving Draco and Harry on the pitch. Harry was torn between going to apologize to his friend, or leave him to sulk.

"He'll forgive us, eventually." Draco reassured Harry "It was just some fourth year. He'll forget her pretty soon, you know Theo."

"Yeah," Harry replied reluctantly "But that doesn't mean I don't get to feel bad about it…"

- - -

The next morning during breakfast, Theo didn't sit with Harry, Draco and Blaise.

"Serves him right…" Draco said haughtily "being such a stuck up jerk!"

Harry just shook his head. After Theo left last night, he had already regretted the decision to mess with him. And Draco wasn't helping.

"Hey, Harry!" Blaise said "When's the first practice?"

"Dunno." Harry replied truthfully. He hadn't scheduled practices with Slytherin's head of house yet. "I have to talk with Slughorn first. I'll let you know as soon as I do, okay?"

That was when the morning Owls soared into the great hall, dropping off their mail. Draco received his usual Daily Prophet, and Blaise got some supplies that he had ordered the previous week.

"Hey, Draco!" Blaise called past Harry "Can you pass the syrup? Draco?"

Without looking up, Draco slid the syrup over the table.

"Any interesting in the Prophet?" Harry asked, peering over at the paper. The picture on the fron page was of Draco's father and Minister Fudge shaking hands cordially in front of a building.

"Father bought the ministry a new Auror's office building in Diagon Alley" Draco responded. "He's been working on this since we went to Albania for the summer. He's trying to get a position on the Hogwart Governor's commission. Had to keep it quiet, you know how it is…"

Harry nodded, scanning the article over Draco's shoulder. Ever since he knew what his father did for a living, he wanted to be an Auror as well. Even though he _hated_ being compared to his father, it seemed irrevocably to be in his blood.

"I don't see my father in the photo." Harry smirked "I bet he wasn't happy about being kept out of the loop."

"Yeah." Draco drawled. "It's surprising how well we can get along when our parents hate each other so much."

"We're not our parents." Harry replied. "And I hope we never will be."

- - -

"_**I hate that bloody bastard!" Harry's father exploded, pacing up and down the kitchen.**_

"_**James!" Lily snapped, tilting her head at Harry.**_

"_**Sorry, Lils." James sighed. "I just can't stand the man! He's got it out for me!"**_

"_**Why?" Harry asked "Mr. Malfoy's always nice to me…"**_

"_**That's just because you're my son." Harry's father snapped, ignoring his wife's warnings. "He can't get enough of famous people!"**_

"_**But then, why doesn't he like you?" Harry asked, completely bewildered.**_

"_**It's complicated…" James told his son, sighing. "Maybe I'll be able to explain when you're older…"**_

_**Harry just sat in his chair and frowned. He hated it when his father would try to explain something, then give up. Didn't he think Harry was capable of understanding?**_

- - -

"Ah, come in, Mr. Potter!" Professor Slughorn beamed, waving him into the room. Harry stepped into the Potion Master's office, and sat down in the chair, waiting expectantly. He had received a note from the Professor at breakfast, asking to meet with him during his free period. "I have wonderful news!"

"Oh?" Harry asked. When Slughorn had good news, it usually was - a lifetime of valuable connections meant that he received a wide variety of gifts from his colleagues.

"One second…" Slughorn bent down behind his desk, rummaging through the piles of boxes filled with trinkets. With a soft 'Ah!' he straightened, holding an elegant mask in his hand, vaguely reminiscent of a goat.

"A mask, sir?" Harry asked, bewildered. Why would the Professor bring him down here for a mask?

"Yes!" The old potions master seemed to be gushing with enthusiasm. "An old student of mine, Bertie Vance, brilliant student by the way… just came up with these wonderful masks. Watch!" Putting it onto his face, there was a swish and a whirring noise, and suddenly the professor was dressed in an elegant costume that matched the mask perfectly.

"Transfiguration, sir?" Harry asked, his jaw slack in surprise.

"Yes, my boy!" Slughorn clapped. "This is just a test one he sent me. I was so impressed, I bought enough for the entire Slug Club; at a reasonable discount, of course. We'll be having a Masque Ball on Halloween!"

"That's excellent, sir!" Harry beamed. Usually, he found the Slug Clubs to be a bit dull. The food was nice, but most of the people were pretty boring after a while. The only one worth paying attention to was Granger - she always had something interesting she read, despite how annoying she could be when reporting it.

"Yes! I know!" The Professor beamed, removing the mask, and allowing it to fade. "The transfiguration lasts for only about 4 hours, so we'll host it from 8 to 12."

"But why meet with me specifically sir?" Harry asked, still a little confused as to why he was here.

"Ah, down to business…" Slughorn sighed contentedly, placing the wondrous trinket back in its box. "I wish to know what schedule you're planning for Quidditch - our first game is against Gryffindor, you know."

Sitting back in the chair, Harry went over it in his head. When _were_ they going to have practice ?"Well, since we've got Baddock, we can't do Thursday evenings - he's got Astronomy then. And the rest of us all have Astronomy on Tuesday - except for Montague - he dropped it… Maybe Mondays and Wednesdays then, until the next game? And we'll try to get some training in on the weekends, but we shouldn't need the pitch for that."

"Excellent! I'll take that to the professor's meeting." Slughorn replied. "Which, I do believe I'm late to. So if you'll excuse me, I'll leave you to your free period."

Harry nodded, and followed the professor out of the office. Turning out of the dungeons, Harry went straight for the Library. He needed to take care of a Transfiguration essay if he wanted to be able to practice with the team on Wednesday.

- - -

As soon as he entered the library, Harry immediately noticed Granger. Funny, he thought, how he never noticed that she had the same free period. He just shrugged, and racked it up to years of making fun of her with Malfoy.

Grabbing a table, Harry sat down and got out his work. First some parchment, then his copy of _Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5. _But when he went to pull out a quill, Harry was unable to find one. Frantically searching through his bag, he noticed only too late that there was a hole in it. Harry sighed. If he didn't take care of the essay during free period, he'd have to stay up all night after practice. But there weren't any Slytherin students to borrow a quill from. Only Granger. Gritting his teeth, Harry got up. There was no way he could miss doing the essay now.

"_Granger_" Harry hissed as he approached the table. "_I need to borrow a quill._"

"You could at least say please." She whispered back, smirking slightly. Yet, unlike when Malfoy did it, her smirk was not unpleasant at all. Still, Harry couldn't help but annoyed by her holding it over him.

"_Fine_"Harry snapped. "_May I please borrow a quill?_"

"Sure." She smiled a wide smile - enough to show her teeth. Harry was immediately taken aback; unlike previous years, her teeth were straight and even - perfect.

"Malfoy'll be disappointed." Harry said, taking the quill gratefully. Hermione cocked her head, confused by his remark. "He spent all summer trying to come up with new tooth-based insults for you. His loss."

Hermione gave him a strange look. "I guess I could call that a compliment, coming from a Slytherin…"

"And I guess that I can take that as a thank you, coming from a Gryffindor." Harry replied, smirking. "I'll give you back the quill when I'm done, thanks." Almost reluctantly, Harry pulled away from the table. He had an essay to write.

- - -

"_**Mind if I sit here?" Harry poked his head into the compartment. All the other ones had been full, and Harry didn't know anyone in his year - his parents never really let him play with other wizarding kids. Sitting in the compartment was a redheaded boy and a girl with a wild mane of hair.**_

"_**Sure." The two chirped. Grinning, Harry threw his trunk under the seat, and sat down.**_

"_**Hi, I'm Harry." He said. "Harry Potter"**_

"_**Ron Weasley."**_

"_**Hermione Granger."**_

"_**Wait… you're a **_**Potter?**_**" Ron asked him. "Blimey! As in, James Potter, head of the Auror's Office? The man who defeated Voldemort?"**_

_**Harry nodded sheepishly. His parents never really liked talking about it. **_

"_**Wicked!" The boy exclaimed fascinated. Hermione turned to him, bewildered.**_

"_**Sorry, who?" She asked.**_

"_**Voldemort!" Ron explained to her. "He went around killing muggles and doing all kinds of nasty stuff… until Harry's dad fought him, that is."**_

_**Harry shrunk into his seat a little bit, trying to shrink away from the boy's story to the girl. Something was just… wrong about listening to the history of his family being told by a complete stranger. Maybe this was why his parents didn't let him play with kids from wizarding families that much…**_

_**The door slid open, and a pale boy with blonde hair stepped in, flanked by two much larger boys. "I heard Harry Potter was here." He stated simply. **_

"_**Who are you?" Ron asked, clearly upset that someone had interrupted him in the middle of his narrative.**_

"_**Well, it's easy to tell who you are." The boy smirked. "Red hair, freckles, second hand clothes, you must be a Weasley." Turning to Harry, he stuck out his hand. "I'm Draco Malfoy. I can help you pick out good friends from the riff raff…"**_

_**The cabin was silent, all eyes on Harry. He froze, frantically trying to think. Malfoy seemed a bit mean, but at least he didn't want to talk about his dad…**_

"_**Thanks." Harry said, taking Malfoy's hand, and shaking it. Both boys beamed as they left the cabin. It was going to be a fun train ride.**_

- - -

It didn't occur to Harry until hours later to return the quill to Granger. And while he wasn't exactly friends with her - it was impossible for a Slytherin to be a friend with a Gryffindor - something just felt wrong about keeping the quill. So, Harry set off down the halls, determined to find her. Immediately, he thought to look for her in the library; it seemed that she was always studying, so it was a good way to start.

And find her he did - arguing quietly with Weasley in a corner of the library. Smirking, he strode over. There was nothing he liked more than goading the imbecile.

"Jeez, Weasley." Harry drawled, mimicking Draco. "It seems every time I see you two together, you're always fighting. Way to be a man."

Ron whirled around furiously. "_Nobody asked you to but in, Potter._" He hissed. "_Why are you here?_"

"Oh, you know…" Harry sighed, casually inspecting his fingernails. "This and that. But the real question is, why aren't you out practicing? You're the worst keeper in the school and the…"

"Shut your bloody-" Ron started to bellow before Hermione elbowed him in the stomach.

"_Shhhhhh!_" She whispered furiously. "_Both of you, stop it! You'll get us kicked out for sure!_"

Ron stalked off without another word. "Thanks for shutting him up." Harry remarked casually.

"What was that for?" Hermione stopped whispering, almost as angry as the Weasel.

"Whoa, calm down there…" Harry replied, the smirk on his face. "I thought you'd be grateful for your quill back…" he dug into his bag, plucked it out, and placed it on the table in front of her.

Her face immediately softened "Thank you." She said. "But did you really need to get Ron so angry?"

"Need, no." Harry replied, grinning. "But messing with his is a favorite pastime."

That elicited a quick smile from Hermione. "He does get riled up pretty easily." She admitted. "But lay off of him, please?"

"No promises…" Harry replied. Checking the time on the clock, he noticed that it was time for practice. Nodding a quick goodbye, he hurried out of the library. It wouldn't be becoming of the Team Captain to be late for the first practice.

- - -

"All right!" Harry called out, looking at the team standing before him on the Quidditch pitch. "We've only got a few more practices until our match with Gryffindor, and I want us to be perfect. We'll be doing drills every Monday and Wednesday, and exercise on Saturdays."

"So…" Baddock said. "What do we do?"

"Montague." Harry said. "I want you to bet Blaise and Baddock here in the air, get some Chaser drills coming up. You three need to work like a team - Gryffindor's chasers are like machines. You need to be able to pass without looking, and know when to keep and when to give. We might not have it down by the Gryffindor game, but you three better be perfect for the second time around."

Nodding, the three kicked off from the ground, Montague with quaffle in hand.

"Crabbe. Goyle." Harry moved on. "I want you to practice making clean beats. We might not send the bludger in their faces every time, but I want you two to be able to do so without getting us a fowl. Malfoy and I'll get in the air. I want you two to try to send a bludger our way - but try to be sneaky about it. We'll be able to dodge because we're going to see it coming, but it'll be good practice for you."

After Harry released the bludgers, the four of them kicked off of the ground. Harry sighed contentedly - it was good to be playing Quidditch.

- - -

Over the next week before the Quidditch match, Harry was in a great mood. Which was probably why he didn't grab for his wand when he saw the entire Weasley population of Hogwarts alone with him in the hall. Before he knew it, he was cornered by all four of them.

While he may have been oblivious, he sure wasn't stupid, so Harry immediately went for his wand. All four of them got the drop on him, though, and he knew not to pull a wand when there were four at his throat.

"Watch it, Potter," One of the twins said.

"You don't want to get into an accident before our match." the other finished.

"Well," Harry stated as coolly as he could in his current situation "Since you haven't hexed me yet, I'm assuming that you have something to day to me."

"Yeah." Ron said. "I-"

"I'd put your wands down if I were you," a familiar drawl came from beyond the circle of red and freckles. "You're outnumbered."

The Weasleys broke ranks, and revealed that Malfoy had arrived with Crabbe and Goyle, as well as Blaise.

"Outnumbered?" Ron asked "It's four on -"

"Five" Harry replied, pulling out his wand with a fluid motion, leveling it at the Weaslette's head. "Next time, if you want to trash talk, leave the wands at home."

Harry stepped out of the ring of Gryffindors without looking back, pausing only to whisper a quiet thanks to Malfoy. If you were going to turn your back on an opponent, you never turn back. It implies weakness.

"See you on the pitch…" He called airily after himself, smirking slightly.

- - -

The entire Slytherin Quidditch team hunkered down in the locker room, all looking up at Harry. He gulped, pushing down the anxiety. It didn't matter that it was his first game as team captain - against Gryffindor, no less. No, it was just another game. Malfoy was still Keeper, and Harry was still seeker. Between the two of them, those crimson-and-gold dolts didn't have a chance.

"All right" Harry started uncomfortably, not too sure what to say. "First game of the year. Lucky us, we got paired up with the Gryffindorks."

That elicited a chuckle from the team, and Harry felt a rush of confidence.

"We don't have too many people out there cheering for us, but who needs them?" Harry asked, his team affirming enthusiastically. Harry smiled. Maybe he was starting to get a hang of this.

"All right." He said "Crabbe, Goyle, focus on taking out the chasers. I don't want to see Gryffindor score a single point." The two mountains of Quidditch players nodded dumbly.

"Blaise, Baddock, and Montague - rack up the score. We want to demolish them out there." Harry explained to the chasers. Like they needed explaining, anyways. "And watch out for the Weasley twins - they aren't above hitting our players like Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff."

"Malfoy." Harry turned to his best friend. "Keep your eyes open. Johnson's still mad that we won last year, so she'll be pulling out all the stops." Malfoy nodded, smirking.

"Those Gryffindorks have nothing on us!" He declared. As the entire team raucously voiced their agreement, Harry couldn't help but to feel another surge of confidence.

"Okay!" Harry exclaimed, finally feeling ready to play. "If you guys do your job, I'll do mine. Lets go kick their sorry arses!"

- - -

"Team Captains!" Hooch called out shrilly. Harry and Johnson flew up to the center of the pitch. "I want a fair game! Now, shake hands!"

Johnson stuck out her hand, and Harry grudgingly took it. But he was taken aback by how hard Angelina squeezed it. As quickly as he could, he snatched his hand back, glaring at Johnson who was smirking at him. Harry guessed it was some sort of captain tradition. Typical, Flint not warning him. But no wasn't time to sulk, Harry knew. It was time to play some Quidditch.

And the game exploded into a frenzy, the roar of the crowd almost overpowering Harry's senses But the cheering never stopped him before. Rising above the noise, he scanned the pitch for the snitch. Almost immediately, he spotted the Weaslette. Harry smirked - she was the school's worst seeker and everybody knew it. There was no way she'd get the snitch this game.

Looking at the quaffle game, it seemed that Gryffindor was leading slightly, 30-10. Harry knew this was going to happen - new chasers meant the small points game was bad. Which meant that the best possible outcome was for him to find the snitch.

Looking around, he thought he spied a glint of gold near the Gryffindor posts. Harry ambled over there slowly, doing his best not to attract the Weaslette's attention - she was still between him and what he saw.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be just a trick of the light. That was the worst part of playing Gryffindor - they wore so much gold, it was damn near impossible to find the snitch.

But then, Harry spotted it - a whirring ball just behind one of the Twins' heads. It wouldn't last there for long; Harry had to move before the Weaslette caught on. Leaning hard on his Firebolt, he sped towards the Gryffindor beater as quickly as he could.

Faintly, Harry could hear Lee Jordan, the announcer, scream into the mike "And Potter seems to have spotted something! Is it the snitch?" And the entire crowd erupted into roars. Harry smirked as he glanced back - the Weaslette was trailing far behind him.

His hand enclosed around the tiny ball of gold, just inches away from the Gryffindor's beater's face. And the twin's bat smashed hard into his. The world went black as Harry fell off of the back of his broom.

- - -

A.N.: This is going really great - I hope that I successfully complete this to the extent that I want to. Sorry about being slow with this chapter, though. Holiday stuff just piled on me (and then some), and it wasn't until this week that I was able to get back and finish this chapter. I'm really appreciative of all your support. You're all the reason why I continue to write this.

Sorry for the typical chapter of Quidditch - I tried to mix it up by having Harry laid out by something _other_ than a bludger. Also, my copy of the Philosopher's Stone is missing right now, so I wasn't able to quote the Train Ride scene. I might go back and fix it if that passage looks really bad compared to JK's opus.

Shadow'sdawn: You don't need to worry about me accusing you of flaming me. Thank you for giving the kind of review that I've been waiting for since I started this fic! As nice as the short 'great fic, please continue' reviews are, I'm always looking for constructive criticism in reviews. I've tried to improve the flow as per your input for this chapter, is it better? Please, continue with the advice. I'll probably go back to previous chapters later once I've established the fic a bit. Probably after I finish 5th year arc.

I haven't had the opportunity to read the Alternate Tale yet, but I'll get around to it one of these days. It sounds quite interesting.

Jarno: You have to take into account a couple of things on Harry's dueling skills. He hasn't fought Voldemort at all, so is he supposed to be a master of combat having grown up as a normal child? Also, he was lashing out in anger, which effected his aim. He was focused more on hurting Ron than hitting him.

Slytherin's Pimp: He's not exactly the revenge-upon-parents type. He's more like the petulant kid who secretly swears that as soon as he's an adult, he will never see his parents ever again.


	4. Chapter 4

As Harry woke, he immediately knew something was not right. First of all, he was in the Hospital Wing - which was concern enough, considering he didn't remember how he got there. Secondly, his parents were standing at the foot of the bed. Not a good thing at all. Harry tried to gulp, but he couldn't feel his throat.

His parents noticed his awakening almost immediately. Harry's father turned away from the bed, calling out "Madam Pomfrey! He's awake!" And the school nurse bustled over to the foot of his bed.

"Feeling better, Mr. Potter?" She asked, holding a bottle of skele-grow in hand. "That was a nasty fall. Albus never listens to me when I warn him about how dangerous you children are on those brooms…"

"How long…" Harry whispered hoarsely, but his throat refused to cooperate. It felt like his entire body was crushed underneath a bus. "… have I been out?"

"Since last afternoon." His mother assured. "We came as soon as we heard. Oh, my poor baby!" Harry tried to grimace, but he couldn't feel his face all that much.

"But you still won the game." Harry's father grinned. "One hundred and eighty to sixty. I wish I didn't have work for it - it sounded like a killer game!"

This elicited a half-furious "James!" from his mother. Harry wasn't sure whether it was for the disregard for his health or the horrific pun.

"You broke almost all the bones in your body." Madam Pomfrey explained to him. "We've had you on numbing potions and skele-grow to fix you. Now that you're awake, it should go a lot quicker. One more treatment, and I should have you out for dinner this evening." Madam Pomfrey handed him two potions - one of skele-grow, and one of the draught of dreamless sleep. Harry took the two in rapid succession, and quickly lost consciousness.

- - -

Hermione Granger would never understand Quidditch. Obviously, the rules were simple enough to understand - the chasers try to throw the quaffle through the hoops guarded by the keepers, the beaters hit the bludgers, and the seekers tried to find the snitch. But it was the entire bloody-minded philosophy of the game that confused her. Ron had tried to explain why it was so interesting on countless occasions, but she was unable to empathize.

Case in point: Harry Potter. He took a bat to the face and a three hundred foot drop (which would have killed him if Professor Dumbledore hadn't cast a quick Wingardium Leviosa on him), all to win a game.

Now, she had nothing against Potter; sure, he was mean when they were little, but he was much nicer now. He even returned the quill he had borrowed - something that Ron wouldn't even do (though that was more of because he'd forget all about it). But that wasn't the point. The fact that he'd go to such great lengths to catch a small enchanted ball mystified her.

Oh well, she sighed to herself. No use pondering about it. She had to take care of a charms essay. Settling down in one of the luxurious armchairs in the Gryffindor common room, she got down to work.

- - -

As soon as he was dismissed from the Hospital Wing, Harry immediately went down to the Slytherin common room. There was a charms essay due that Monday, and while Flitwick would probably be sympathetic, he didn't want to take any chances.

Upon entering the common room, he was showered with applause and adulation from what appeared to be the entire House. Hanging from the ceiling was a banner, proudly proclaiming "Harry Potter: the King of Quidditch!". Set up in a corner of the common room was a long table with flagons of Butterbeer and countless other treats, presumably from the kitchens.

"Hey, mate!" Draco emerged from the sea of Slytherin "We had Pomfrey tell us when she was letting you out. Bloody brilliant with that catch!"

"What happened?" Harry asked "Pomfrey wasn't there, so she couldn't tell me what went down."

"One of the Weasley twins hit you in the head with their bat." Theo said, coming up to Harry and Draco. "Sorry, mate, for being such a prat."

"No problem." Harry grinned. "Back to the twin, though, what happened to him?"

"Dunno." Theo replied. "They said they weren't going to expel him - no proof. McGonagall was furious, though; I wouldn't be surprised if he had detention for the rest of the year."

"Who cares!" Draco exclaimed "We won - let's party!"

And that's when Harry saw her. Daphne Greengrass. The hottest Slytherin girl in the year. Even when he had been with Turpin, he thought she was beautiful. Long, dark brown hair, that flowed past her shoulders, and piercing green eyes.

Their eyes met and locked as they approached each other from across the common room. Her hips seemed to sway hypnotically as they drew closer.

"An excellent catch, Harry." the Slytherin remarked, smiling coyly.

"I just wish I could remember it." Harry quipped. Daphne laughed, and Harry felt a connection with her - he hadn't felt like this since he had broken up with Turpin the previous year. They continued making small talk for a while until the party started to die down, and Daphne's friends whisked her away.

"Hey, mate." Blaise called out to Harry. "Up for some exploding snap?"

Harry broke out of the trance, shaking his head violently. "Yeah, sure."

- - -

"So," Theo quipped "What was that with you and Greengrass?"

"Dunno." Harry replied.

"Maybe it had something to do with the Hogsmeade trip next weekend?" Draco supplied, moments before the entire game exploded.

"I guess I should ask her then." Harry said. Maybe it was time to get out - move on from Lisa.

"Ooooohhhhh!" Theo and Blaise cooed simultaneously "Harry's in love with Green-grass!"

"Shut up!" Harry growled at them half-heartedly. He honestly didn't know what to think. He resigned himself to asking Greengrass out to Hogsmeade, and see where it went from there.

- - -

"Essays on my desk, please!" Professor Flitwick called out to the class.

Too late, Harry realized that he had forgotten to take care of the charms essay. Mentally punching himself, he rose his hand. "Professor, I forgot my essay. I was-"

"Released last night, and you had plenty of time to finish, Mr. Potter." Flitwick responded ."Ten points from Slytherin. And I expect that paper next class."

"_Bloody wanker._" Draco whispered to him. "_I bet that he's just mad that you beat Gryffindor._" Which caused Harry to promptly laugh.

"Find something funny, Mr. Potter?" Flitwick asked. "Perhaps you would care to share it with the class?"

"No, professor." Harry replied, stifling his chuckles.

"Very well, then." Flitwick said. "Today, we will be working on the _Sonorous Charm._ Open up your textbooks and turn to page 153..."

- - -

"Hey Daphne!" Harry called out. Ever since their encounter at the victory party, he had tried to get a chance to talk to her. It seemed that she was escorted at all times by an entourage of Slytherin girls - old money attracted lots of people. "Can I talk to you? Alone?"

Smiling, she nodded to her friends, who continued down the hallway. "What can I do for you, Harry?"

"Well," Harry began, swallowing any nervousness I had "There's the Hogsmeade trip this weekend, and I was wondering-"

"if I would go with you?" she finished, smirking knowingly. "Of course, I would love for you to escort me."

"Great!" Harry beamed. "I guess I'll see you this weekend, then." He hurried down the hallway, and had to do his best not to skip his way to the library to finish his charms essay.

- - -

For the third time, when Harry entered the Library, he found Granger and the Weasel arguing again. And as much as he knew that he needed to take care of the essay, he couldn't help himself.

"Weasel," Harry quipped as he approached the table. "Still bitter about getting your arse handed last weekend?"

"Shut it, Potter." The Weasel replied "You're lucky to be alive."

"Oh, yeah" Harry drawled "Let your brother know that next time he wants to fight me, he can just let me know first - unless cowardice runs in your family."

Hermione tried to break in here, but Ron decided to escalate. To Ron's credit, he was pretty quick in drawing his wand. "Do you really want to start something, Potter?"

"Nope" Harry sneered "You'd better put your wand away before Madam Pince sees you - you'll probably get banned from the Library for all time."

"Please," Hermione said. "Both of you, just stop it! If you guys aren't here to do work, then just leave! I actually want to take care of my work!" And for the third time in what seemed to be a short interval, Ron stormed out of the library.

"You said you'd stop goading him." Hermione glared at Harry, her fury almost tangible. Why did he have to be such a prat to Ron?

"No, I said 'No Promises', if memory serves." Harry smirked. "But I'll take care of work now."

- - -

Why was Potter such an arse? Hermione had to ask herself. He seemed to be getting nicer, but he was just plain evil to Ron. How could someone be so nice to her, but so mean to her friends?

Glancing over at him, she saw him working on the charms essay he'd been too lazy to take care of earlier. Which lead her into another question about the Slytherin boy: why was he so careless with schoolwork, but always in the library? He had top marks in Potions, Transfiguration, and Defense, but in Charms and History, he seemed not to care too much. Of course, being a Potter meant that spellwork came naturally to him, but that didn't mean he had to be lazy about it. What about OWLs this year? Was he just going to try to coast through those?

Hermione sighed in frustration. Harry Potter was truly an enigma.

Ginny plopped down next to Hermione. "Hey. Do you remember much of last year? I have to write an essay on the three unforgivables for Lupin."

"Yeah." Hermione replied, smiling fondly reminiscing about last year. "Imperius, Cruciatus, and the Killing Curse. If you want, I've got a book in my room that has a very informative chapter on them."

"Thank Merlin!" Ginny exclaimed, sighing relieved. "I should have paid more attention today."

Hermione quickly went up to her room, retrieving _Ways of the Wizengamot: Capital Punishment in Wizarding England_. Returning to the common room, she saw that Parvati had joined Ginny at the common room table.

"Thanks, Hermione." Ginny gratefully accepted the textbook and opened it up.

"So, Hermione," Parvati half-whispered conspiratorially "What's this I hear about you and Potter?"

"What?" Hermione exclaimed, taken aback. Even Ginny stopped looking at the book, confused.

"I heard Ron complaining about him." Parvati explained "He was muttering something about how Potter keeps 'bumping into you' in the Library."

"Oh… I don't know..." Hermione replied. "Its strange; I don't think its on purpose or anything."

"He's such a git, though." Ginny exclaimed "He and his friends prank almost as much as Fred and George - and they're never as nice about it. Remember last year when Neville got put in the Hospital Wing? They never were able to prove it was them, but I know it was."

"Actually, he's actually quite nice to me - loves to goad Ron on, though." Hermione said thoughtfully. "Its strange; he seems like less of a prat than last year. What do you think?"

"You know," Parvati said "I used to be in a study group with my sister, Padma. Turpin brought Potter to the sessions; she liked to show him off. But he's pretty smart. Surprised he isn't in Ravenclaw, actually. He's almost N.E.W.T.S. level in potions, and knows Transfiguration theory pretty well. He complained about History of Magic all the time, though; said it was boring or something."

"Did you hear about Greengrass?" Ginny asked them. "Apparently Harry asked her out to the Hogsmeade trip a couple of days ago."

For some reason, Hermione felt a strange pang of something.

"Turpin must not have liked that at all."

"Nope." Ginny replied "She was pretty pissed. I heard that she was spreading nasty rumors about her - Potter's not going to like that."

- - -

Apparently, news traveled fast through the castle, because by dinner time, Harry had already heard news of Turpin bad-mouthing Daphne. Which, in turn, made Harry furious. First of all, she had no business in his personal business after last year, and secondly, she had no right going off on Daphne - he hadn't even asked her out a full day ago.

Which is why he decided to make a big confrontation of it in the evening. Well, that, and he hadn't filled his daily quota of messing with people.

"Oi, Turpin!" Harry stormed up to the her gaggle of friends in the hall. "We need to talk!"

"What?" She snapped at him. "Did poor little Greengrass come crying to you?"

"You'd better leave her alone." Harry threatened. "I'm serious Turpin, no matter how jealous-"

"Jealous!" She screeched "Of some Slytherin bimbo? Not likely!"

By this time, passerby in the hall had stopped, noticing the row. Daphne happened to be one of those passerby.

"Admit it," Harry sneered his ugliest sneer "You're just mad that we broke up. It's your fault, get over it. And stay away from her." And turning on his heel, he walked back to the Slytherin table. Waiting for him was a grinning Daphne.

"My hero!" She exclaimed half-seriously, smiling. "That was very kind of you."

"Someone needed to shut her up." Harry replied. "She won't be bothering you anymore. Want to go to dinner now?"

- - -

The week passed quickly, and soon it was time for the Hogsmeade trip. Harry, Theo, Blaise, and Draco went down to the great hall together as normal for breakfast. Daphne met Harry in the hall as well, and the group of five all went down to the train together. Filch was waiting for all the students, and promptly began to search everyone. Once he was satisfied the students weren't bringing anything inappropriate onboard, he allowed them onto the train.

- - -

As the Slytherins got off the train at Hogsmeade, they separated politely, Harry slipping a few galleons to Draco for some 'Prank War Supplies'

As soon as the other boys were gone, Harry turned to Daphne. "So, where do you want to go?"

"I don't know…" she smiled coyly. "Any suggestions?"

"I'm thinking we should start off at the Three Broomsticks" Harry proffered his arm. "And see where it takes us from there?"

"Sounds perfect!" She chirped, taking his arm.

- - -

Harry and Daphne spent a couple of hours in the Three Broomsticks, hidden away from the crowd in a slightly more private booth. He grinned the whole time; it seemed like they really were making a connection.

"So, where do you spend you holidays?" Harry asked, sipping his Butterbeer.

"I live outside of Glasgow. But during the summer, we almost always rent someplace out. My parents work for the ministry, so its always just a floo away for them. And you?"

"Godric's Hollow. We don't like to travel too much, though. Still, it's beautiful during the winter. There's a lake by our house, and when it gets _really_ cold, it freezes over and you can ice skate on it."

"Sounds beautiful." Daphne remarked "Maybe sometime I'll be able to see this lake." Harry grinned.

"Hogwarts students!" Madam Rosmerta called out "Closing time! The train will be leaving in fifteen minutes!"

Harry paid the tab, and both he and Daphne filed out of the Three Broomsticks with the other Hogwarts students.

- - -

"Honestly, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, exasperated "We didn't need to spend the entire Hogsmeade trip in Zonko's! Did you even buy anything?"

"It's not like you had anywhere else to be." Ron replied "And yes, I did get some stuff. Fred and George got detention, so they had me buy stuff for pranking the Slytherins. Like these dungbombs."

While fiddling through his bag, he slammed right into Daphne Greengrass, who Hermione conveniently noticed was upon the arm of a one Harry Potter. Unfortunately for all of them, this caused Ron to accidentally set off the dungbomb in his hands, irritating all of them with the foul stench.

"What the bloody hell were you thinking, Weasel?" Harry exclaimed in disgust.

"Well," Daphne sneered at Hermione. "The mudblood _was_ distracting him."

_That_ elicited a large number of gasps from passerby. Hermione's mouth opened in shock and disgust. Ron, always being the chivalrous one, quickly dropped his bags and leveled his wand at Daphne, while Harry was as quick on pulling his wand on Ron.

"Drop it, Weasley." Harry snapped "We don't want to make a scene here, now do we? No one to back you up except Granger there."

Ron promptly returned his wand to his pocket and picked up his bag full of Dungbombs, swinging it at Harry's face. Completely unexpected by the move, Harry dropped his wand as the entire bag exploded in a gigantic flume of stench. Within seconds, Harry had tackled the other boy, and they were rolling on the ground throwing punches.

This was enough to get Filch's attention, who waded through the crowd of stunned onlookers.

"Break it up! Break it up!" He growled, dragging Ron off of Harry. "Fighting on a Hogsmeade trip? The headmaster is going to hear about this one."

- - -

"I must say," Dumbledore sighed in his office "I am very disappointed in the both of you. While neither of you started the fight, both of you took it to an inappropriate level."

Both Harry and Ron sat uncomfortably in their seats. Both knew that some massive punishment was going to be doled out; having a meeting with the Headmaster only confirmed that.

"With great reluctance," The Headmaster explained "I am barring you from all Hogsmeade trips until further notice. Also, another week's detention with Professor Lupin as well. I have informed your parents of the recent turn of events by owl. Please don't make a habit of fighting at this school, boys."

Harry and Ron both nodded, eager to escape Dumbledore's office. Not that it was unpleasant - it was very ornate and beautiful - but because of the number of eyes glaring at them. While as students of Hogwarts, they were accustomed to moving pictures, it was still very disconcerting. They made their way down the flight of stairs and back to their common rooms as quickly as possible.

- - -

"Bloody brilliant, Harry" Draco drawled sarcastically "Your parents are going to have you off the team for sure!"

"Sod off, Draco" Harry scowled. It was bad enough getting detention and being told off by Dumbledore; he didn't need ridicule from his friends.

"They can't do that!" Blaise exclaimed "Ron was the one who swung a bag of dungbombs at his head."

"They won't have me off the team." Harry replied. "But I think that they're not going to let me see anyone on Christmas break. I wouldn't be surprised if they grounded me for the summer too. They're going to be pretty pissed."

- - -

And pissed they were. Unlike last time, however, they did not send a Howler. Instead, a very angry letter came by way of Hedwig.

_**Harry James Potter,**_

_**How dare you start that fight with that Weasley boy! We almost sent you a Howler, but Professor Slughorn advised us against it. We try to be understanding of you, but when you cause so much trouble its hard not to be upset with you. You will be grounded this Christmas, and we will talk about the upcoming summer. You had be on your best behavior if you want to travel with the Zabinis during the holidays.**_

_**On another note, we just wanted you to know that your father and I will be coming for the upcoming Ravenclaw game, and asked time off for the rest of the games this year. I didn't think it was too important, but your father insisted once he discovered that you were Team Captain.**_

_**Hugs and Kisses,**_

_**Mom**_

- - -

"Mister Potter. Mister Weasley." Lupin sighed "Back again, I see. Personally, I don't believe in detention - they don't seem to be much of a deterrent from wrongdoing - but I cannot say that you shouldn't be punished. Which is why," With a wave of his wand,, he floated a pair of large stacks of books over to a couple of desks "I've decided that you'll be preparing for your OWLs when you're in detention to me. This week, you'll cover some of the more basic materials that are presented on the test."

Ron groaned as he sat down in his desk. Harry had to agree with him. Why did he have to waste time on the basics? He had an E - almost an O - in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Personally, he'd rather do lines. But there wasn't anything he could do. So, he sat down, and picked up a copy of _Elementary Wand Safety_ that sat on top of his pile, and began to read.

- - -

Ever since the event at Hogsmeade, Harry had avoided Daphne as much as possible. Unfortunately, that was a very difficult task. They had Potions, Charms, and Herbology together. For all those classes, he either had to hurry out as quickly as possible or chat up the teacher as soon as they could be excused. Unfortunately for Harry, his luck ran out quick - he only made it one day.

"_Harry._" Draco hissed, glancing at Harry worriedly. "_Greengrass heading your way._"

"_Can you stall?_" Harry whispered back, but to no avail.

"Potter!" Daphne said, an unreadable expression on her face. Harry's expression darkened. "You've been avoiding me. Why?"

"Why do you think." Harry snapped.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Calling Granger a 'Mudblood'? Picking a fight with Weasley?" Harry almost yelled. His hands unconsciously balling into fists. "Yeah, they're Gryffindors, but does that mean you have to go around trying to duel them every chance you get!"

"The Mudblood deserved it, and Weasley was a moron to pick a fight!" she exclaimed defensively "I'm sorry that you got involved, but…"

Harry stormed off. Daphne and he were over, that much was clear. The Slytherin team captain just wanted to punch something. Thankfully, he didn't have any more classes for the day, which meant that he could cool off in the Library.

- - -

As usual, Harry spotted Hermione in the Library. It seemed like a ritual for the two this year. However, this time Hermione was joined by the Weaslette and a few more Gryffindor girls. Hermione threw a glance at him, trying to make it perfectly clear that she didn't want to speak to him. However, Harry felt the urge to talk to her. For the fourth time in the first month, Harry found himself ambling over to the Gryffindor's table.

"Get the hell out of here, Potter." Ginny snapped as soon as she saw him. Hermione gave him a look that clearly showed that she agreed with the Weaslette.

"I just want to talk to Granger for a minute." Harry said, his eyes locked on Hermione's "Please."

Hermione shifted in her seat uncomfortably, not too sure what to do. Harry had seemed so nice to her before, but then he went out with Greengrass. Eventually, she seemed to make up her mind. "Fine." Standing up from the table, she walked back towards Harry's table. "What do you want, Potter?"

"I wanted to apologize for last weekend." Harry said. "Because I know Daphne won't. She doesn't even think that she did anything wrong. Some of the pure blooded families don't get it that blood doesn't matter anymore."

"Why should you care?" She asked, still keeping the tone of hurt and hostility in her voice.

"My mum's a muggleborn witch." Harry replied "And I get really pissed when someone throws around slurs like Mudblood around me. When Daphne - I mean Greengrass - called you one, it really got my blood boiling. I broke up with her today."

"Sorry." Hermione said, not too sorry at all for some reason.

"Don't be." Harry quipped. "It would have come up sooner or later, I'm just glad that I figured it out before we made a real connection. Well, I've got homework to take care of…" Hermione nodded and went back to her table.

"What did he want?" Harry heard Ginny whisper to her.

"Nothing." Hermione replied smiling. "He just wanted to apologize."

- - -

Harry sighed. A week of detention fulfilled under Professor Lupin's watchful eye was unpleasant yes, but the fact that he had to spend that week with the Weasel just made it unbearable. Like usual, as soon as Professor Lupin excused them, Hermione was waiting outside for Ron.

Harry and Hermione's eyes met as he crossed the threshold of the classroom. But just as quickly, Harry jerked his gaze away and walked down the hallway as quickly as he could while keeping up an unperturbed appearance. Something about that girl unnerved him. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't the annoying buck-toothed beaver of a witch she was in their first year? Maybe she was actually attractive now?

No. Harry put that thought to rest. There was no way he could be attracted to a Gryffindor. He would never hear the end of it from his friends.

- - -

Next Chapter: Slytherin vs. Ravenclaw - Harry vs. Cho. Who'll be the victor? Also, Slughorn's Masked Halloween Ball - what will happen in a sea of disguises?

A.N.: If you haven't noticed, I've started trying to write from Hermione's perspective - in very small amounts - let me know if you like it. If it seems well done, I'll keep it. The Greengrass issue is just meant to show another failed relationship. I debated whether to stretch it across a couple chapters, but it fit better within a single one.

Athenakitty: I hope this chapter answered your question - I don't think that he would receive too harsh of a punishment even if they thought he did it on purpose: there's no proof.

Jedipilot24: My interpretation of the entire Hermione/Ron thing is that while they would have fought a lot in first year, by second or third year, they would have gotten it out of their system. They're in the same house, so they would have to gotten along regardless.

Clad Leonhart: Thanks for the review - it's nice to know people like my fic!

Alorkin: Holy expletive, That was a long review! Thanks - I enjoyed reading the entire thing - it took me a few mins.

I am from the U.S. and I have never heard of a legal justification for murder by way of racial slur. Are you sure that's a federal law? It may be a state law - the U.S. has a number of quirky laws that are left over from our origins. For example, in Alabama, it is illegal to open an umbrella on a street. That's because they don't want you to spook the horses. And while it may have made sense hundreds of years ago, not so much today.

You made a number of good points through your review, which I'll try to incorporate into further writings. As for the whole Twin debacle, it isn't clear whether they did it on purpose - it's just the usual Slytherin-Gryffindor hate that's hyping it up.


	5. Chapter 5

_Hermione Granger was in a superb mood. Ron had just finished his last detention with Professor Lupin that evening - not that Hermione cared too much, but she was friends with Ginny, which meant she had to be at least cordial with Ron. Usually, that meant helping him out with his homework; he seemed quite hopeless in most of the classes. Though, that was probably because he had his head up in the clouds - he was more obsessed with Quidditch than even Harry._

_Harry Potter. Harry Potter was the reason why Hermione was so happy. She wasn't so sure why, but after he apologized for Greengrass calling her a Mudblood, she had been practically skipping to all of her classes._

"_Earth to Hermione…" Ginny snapped her fingers in front of the bushy haired girl. "I've got your book for you." She pulled out Hermione's copy of __Ways of the Wizengamot_ from her bag.

"Oh…" Hermione said, still a little dazed from her daydreams "Thanks…"

Ginny gave her a funny look "You've been acting pretty strange the past couple of days, Hermione. Does this have something to do with Potter?"

"No! Of course not!" Hermione lied immediately.

"Then why have you been Princess Airhead all this time?"

"O.W.L. studying. Honestly, you'll understand next year - it's a lot of work." Hermione pulled a Herbology text out of her bag - there was a quiz coming up after the weekend.

- - -

"Okay, guys!" Harry called out. "We're really going to push ourselves today. We may have beaten Gryffindor, but we're going up against Ravenclaw two weeks from now! And while I know that you guys did your best, I need even better from you. I want a perfect record for the fall season. That means beating both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. The losers in Hufflepuff, I'm not too worried about, but Ravenclaw this year is the best I've seen it."

Harry turned to Malfoy. "Draco! Your spins were sloppy last game. Six goals to our three? I know that Gryffindor has the best chasers, but I need a keeper who can shut out Ravenclaw. They might not have Johnson, but their team is more solid overall."

"Crabbe! Goyle!" Harry turned to the beaters "You can get off good hits - you're probably the strongest beaters here, but you don't have the speed that the Weasel Twins had last game."

"Chasers! You looked fine up there. You need to work on technique, but that's for during the week. Now, we're going to start practice today with a lap around the lake, then we'll start some ground drills."

The rest of the team let out some groans as they began to jog, falling in line behind Harry. Normally, Harry would be loathe to give the entire team such an all-out workout, but since becoming team captain, he had come to appreciate the necessity of exercise for Quidditch players.

As they got further into the jog, Harry's thoughts strayed to a one Hermione Granger. Despite breathing heavily, he managed to smile. Ever since he had apologized to her, everything at school seemed alright. Turpin had finally learned to leave him alone, and Greengrass had taken the hint. The biggest worry he had was the upcoming Ravenclaw game, and Harry knew that he didn't have to worry about that if the team pushed themselves.

- - -

However, while Harry and the Slytherin were enjoying ground training, the Gryffindor Quidditch team was experiencing their personal hell.

"No, no, no!" Ron bellowed at his chasers. "We need to be perfect for the Hufflepuff match - unless we in by 200, there's no way we'll keep up with Slytherin for the Quidditch cup! Now, we're going to do this again, and again, until you three can get it right!"

The three Gryffindor chasers groaned loudly at this. Ron was even harder than Wood when it came to weekend practices.

- - -

"Hey, Harry!" Draco pulled out a copiously large bag out from under his bed, handing it to Theo. "Ready to get back at those Gryffindorks?"

"Sure." Harry replied. He was _supposed_ to be studying for the Herbology examination on Monday, but it wasn't like he cared about the O.W.L. for that anyways.

"We got everything we could think of: " Theo almost gushed as he revealed the contents of the bags. "Filibuster's Fabulous, like last time, Wizardcrackers, Vanishing Chairs, and enough Dungbombs to stink up the entire school!"

"Vanishing Chairs?" Harry inquired, intrigued.

"Brand new material." Draco replied, pulling out a piece of paper. "Filch doesn't even know that they exist." Tapping the paper with his wand, it unfolded into a pretty convincing replica of a Hogwarts stool.

"Looks like a chair, but as strong as a piece of paper?" Harry asked. "But Fred and George should know about this already. We can't surprise the Gryffindors with this."

"Ah, but you forget." Draco reminded him. "They had detention during the Hogsmeade trip. We've got until the weekend after Halloween to spring this on them."

Harry grinned, rubbing his hands together gleefully. "Well then, let's get them back the proper

Slytherin way."

- - -

And so, the Slytherin students hatched their plan. Blaise would set up the Vanishing Chairs in the Twins' usual seats, while Theo would slip as many dungbombs into their bags. Harry and Draco were in charge of getting the perfect view for the prank.

The plan came together wonderfully: the Weasel Twins fell right through the flimsy paper chairs, dropping their bags. This, of course, set off the multiple dungbombs Theo snuck into them. In the end, it left a stunned pair of Gryffindorks on the floor, ripe for the picking by a one Professor McGonagall, who was still angry with them after the Quidditch debacle.

The four Slytherin boys could only snigger as McGonagall pulled the two of them out by their ears, muttering something about "those Weasley Boys…"

- - -

That next morning in the mail, Harry, Draco, Blaise, and Theo all received packages from Professor Slughorn, each attached with a letter.

_**Dear Slug Club Member,**_

_**As you well know , it is a tradition for the Slug Club to hold a party on Halloween. This year, I have the distinct pleasure of introducing our first Halloween Masque Ball. It will run from eight o'clock on the 31**__**st**__** of October, up until midnight. Enclosed within the package is an enchanted mask which will provide you with an appropriate costume. I must warn you, the enchantment is limited to just a notch over four hours, so avoid wearing it until the party if you wish to remain your anonymity. **_

_**Best Regards!**_

_**- Horace Slughorn**_

The group looked around to see if any first years had received letters from Slughorn - the Halloween party was typically the first opportunity that the old potions professor got to recruit. A weedy looking boy who Harry remembered from the Auror's Office Christmas parties his parents took each year had a bewildered look on his face as he read the letter. Another first year girl at the Slytherin table had received a telltale package as well.

"You think this is worth going to?" Draco asked Harry.

"I'm going." Harry replied. "I'm not so sure how fun it'll be for you and Pansy - this seems like singles are going to have fun."

"Yeah!" Theo chortled "This is going to be the best party ol' Sluggy's ever hosted!"

"So, when are we going to prank the Weasel Twins?" Harry asked. "It's not like we have a good opportunity to."

"Don't worry." Draco replied. "We've got free period when they have study hall. All we have to do is figure out where they sit and make the switch."

This was the precise moment when Blaise practically swooned into a seat next to Theo, a kiss marked on his cheek in a very conspicuous shade of lipstick.

"Care to tell us why you've got love marks?" Theo chortled. Blaise gave him a dirty look, but let it go immediately, grinning.

"Is this about you and Greengrass?" Draco asked.

"_Not in front of Harry._" Blaise hissed, worriedly.

"Don't worry, Blaise." Harry replied. "I dumped her for a reason - there's no reason for me to want to go out with her anymore."

- - -

"Okay, class!" Flitwick chirped from on top of his stack of books. "Today, we will be having a practical examination. The O.W.L.s will require you to perform advanced charms from this years curriculum Today, we will be practicing the Bubble Charm. Now, if you open your textbooks to page one hundred and eighty seven…"

The double class of Slytherin and Gryffindor shuffled through their bags, pulling out their copies of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5_, and flipped open to the page indicated.

"As you will notice, the phrase is _Ebullio Contego_. Remember to keep the intent of the charm - to create a protective bubble around your head - in mind when casting. Many students who lack the required concentration typically end up causing boils upon themselves. And make not sure to say _Bullio Contego_ unless you wish for the buttons on your clothes to disappear."

The entire class had a good natured chuckle at that.

"As the text describes, the wand motion is a circular one, enclosing the head like so… _Ebullio Contego._"

The charms professor swirled his wand over his head, cleanly forming a bubble over his head. Jabbing it vigorously with his wand, he made to demonstrate the sturdiness of the bubble. Then, with a slightly muffled "Finite Incantatum.", he made it disappear.

"Now, you try." And the race to become the first to complete the charm began.

Normally, Harry didn't try too hard. As long as he got it right by the end of the class, it was fine. But for some reason, he caught Hermione's eye from across the classroom, and was determined to do better than her.

"_Ebullio Contego!_" Harry cast the spell, creating a bubble that expired only a moment after his creation.

"Ooh!" Exclaimed Flitwick "Very nice try, Mr. Potter. When you say the incantation, make sure to focus on the bubble being strong. That's the key to succeeding here."

It took Harry three more tries before he successfully created a lasting bubble.

"Excellent, Mr. Potter." Flitwick squeaked "Ten points to Slytherin!"

Looking over at Hermione, Harry gave her a superior (yet not totally unkind) smirk, to which she only shrugged in slight frustration and continued attempting to succeed in casting the bubble charm. Next to her, Ron was having much less luck.

"_Bullio Tego!_" Harry heard the Weasel exclaim, and an explosion of soot, the Gryffindor reappeared with only ashen remains of his clothes, which were on fire. The entire Slytherin half of the classroom burst into laughter while Flitwick frantically attempted to rectify the situation.

"_Aguamenti!_" Flitwick cast the water spell to douse the flames. "_Induviae!_" The Weasel was immediately clothed in robes identical to those before the mishap.

"Mr. Weasley," Flitwick panted, half from the exertion, half from shock "If you wish to get a passing grade on the Charms O.W.L.s, you're going to have to be a _bit_ more careful about your incantations."

- - -

"Today's a clear day, perfect for Quidditch!" Lee Jordan exclaimed into the megaphone "Slytherin versus Ravenclaw, the top two teams this year so far! Though, of course, I'd love to see Slytherin get crushed after their last game against -"

"That will be enough." McGonagall snapped.

"Anyways, the teams will be out momentarily!" Lee said, putting down the megaphone, trying to shy away from a upset Transfiguration Teacher.

- - -

"All right, guys!" Harry addressed his team for the second time "We've been training really hard. We're stronger than them, our technique is better, and our tactics are superior."

"Then we shouldn't have a problem beating them, right?" Draco asked.

"I'm not saying that we've got this in the bag - far from it. They're almost as good as us in every way. They've even got the second best seeker at the school."

The entire team chuckled at that.

"Samuels and Inglebee are pushovers compared to you." Harry addressed Crabbe and Goyle "Control the bludgers and disrupt their chasers." The two massive beaters nodded wordlessly.

"Zabini! Baddock! Montague!" Harry called out to the Chasers. "Page likes to focus on the left goal. Feint to draw him out, then go for the right. If he figures it out, I trust you three to figure out how to get around him again"

"What about Chang?" Draco asked from the back of the changing room.

"She can spot the Snitch, I'll give her that." Harry admitted "But I'm faster than her. Unless she gets a really big lead on me, there's no way she'll keep up. Now, let's go out there and make our parents proud!" Both Harry and Draco shared a sarcastic smirk at this.

- - -

"… And now we've got the Slytherin team!" Lee Jordan called out somewhat halfheartedly. "Crabbe! Goyle! Montague! Zabini! Baddock! Malfoy! And that git, Potter!" Which immediately earned him a strike to the back of the head from McGonagall.

"Now, I want a fair game." Hooch said "Shake!"

This time, Harry was prepared for the team captain's handshake, and gripped Davies' hand as hard as he could. The two of them grimaced at each other before breaking the bone-crushing shake and rising into the air. Hooch blew on her whistle, and the game was on.

Harry rose from his spot in the center of the pitch to get a better look. He needed to keep up with Chang if he wanted to catch the snitch!

"And Cho Chang sees something! Is it the snitch?" Jordan exclaimed. "A bit early in the game for…"

But Harry wasn't listening anymore. He pealed off after Chang, who was streaking towards the Slytherin bleachers. But as soon as he caught up with the Ravenclaw Seeker, he saw that there was no snitch to catch, and eased up on the broom. No point chasing something that wasn't there.

"Slytherin up 60-20, this looks like its going to be a boring season…" Lee Jordan faked a yawn, but stopped when McGonagall glared at him.

Harry scanned the pitch, but the Snitch was nowhere to be found.

"Davies with the Quaffle, heading for Malfoy. Passes to Bradley, Bradley passes to Chambers. Chambers goes for the goal…" Jordan paused in anticipation, but was to be sorely disappointed, Draco dismissing the quaffle with a flick of his broom's tail, sending it soaring to Blaise. "Oh! And Malfoy makes the save. Zabini running the quaffle down the pitch…"

Once again, Harry stopped listening. He had spotted a flash of gold in the parent's booth, and Chang hadn't spotted it. However, she was still a bit closer, so Harry drifted slowly, attempting to make the gap negligible. Now if he could just make it without her noticing…

"And Potter's making some movement!" Jordan called as Harry made his break for it. "I guess we'll see whether this is a feint or the real deal!"

The Ravenclaw Seeker immediately turned her broom to follow Harry, hot on his tail. As he got closer to the booth, he immediately noticed that the little golden globe was hovering right between his parents heads.. Grimacing, he began to bank a little bit - more than he could afford, considering Chang had it in her sights as well. Three seconds until he would slam into his parents… two… one…

And Harry tumbled off his broom, crashing into the spot where his parents were just a second ago, they had good reflexes from the war.

"And Potter's got the Snitch!" Jordan called out to the crowd. "Slytherin wins two hundred and thirty to twenty, further solidifying their lead for the House Cup!"

"Bloody brilliant catch, son!" Harry's father beamed, shaking his hand. A number of the Slytherin parents got up to shake Harry's hand, including a supremely pleased Lucius Malfoy. After a minute or so of frantic hand shaking, Harry found his broom, and glided smoothly down to the pitch, the golden Snitch held victoriously over his head.

"Told you!" Draco yelled in his ear. "No problem! Are we going to ease up on practice now?"

Harry just grinned and bowed to the sea of silver and green which was loudly showing their approval.

- - -

That evening, after dinner, Harry, Draco, Theo, and Blaise all went up the fifth year boys' dormitories to don their costumes for Slughorn's Halloween ball. Draco was the first to put on his mask, and with a whirl, he was immediately garbed in a distinctly draconic baroque costume.

"All right!" Theo exclaimed as his pewter colored mask transformed him into a remarkable likeness of one of the many suits of armor that lined the halls of Hogwarts.

Blaise, next to don his mask, was immediately clothed in a hawk-like costume, the mask featuring a prominent beak.

"Go on, Harry!" Theo exclaimed. "I wonder what Slughorn saved for you!"

Harry closed his eyes, and put the mask on over his face. When the odd sensation of his clothes transfigurating was over, he noticed that his friends were laughing hard.

"What?" He asked, slightly peeved by their reactions. Draco, unable to speak because he was laughing so hard, pointed Harry to the mirror. Looking at his reflection, Harry gasped in shock and dismay - his costume had a distinct Stag form.

"Bet he doesn't know how much you hate your dad." Theo chortled. It was well known that Harry's Father's Patronus took the form of a stag from the Dementor breakouts years ago.

"Let's just go." Harry stormed out of their dormitories, the other boys having little choice but to follow.

In the Slytherin common room, there were a couple other Slytherin students in their costumes already, preparing to leave for the party. Draco and Blaise, as they had dates, respectfully took their leave of Theo and Harry to make their way to the party alone.

- - -

"Should I even go?" Hermione asked Ginny anxiously. "I mean, I could be studying-"

"-for some test? Please." Ginny retorted. "You're always studying. You need some down time - come on, live a little!"

"Fine." Hermione sighed. It was true: she spent too much time studying. In both the muggle and wizarding world, stress was pernicious to grades and testing scores. She rummaged through her trunk, finding the package that Slughorn had sent her earlier that week. Standing back up, she turned to see that Gunny had already donned her flame colored costume.

"Let's go." Ginny said impatiently "There's a party to go to!"

"One second!" Hermione slipped on her mask and followed her out of the dormitories, both of them making their way to the Great Hall amid a sea of costumes.

- - -

"Ol' Sluggy's outdone himself…" Theo gaped at the decorations set up in the great hall. Flanking each entrance were giant carved pumpkins, grinning evilly at the partygoers. Floating in the air were what seemed to be the entire ghost population of Great Britain - apparently Slughorn had invited them as well, Harry mused. The food as always was the highest quality Hogwarts could offer - straight from the House Elves down in the kitchens.

"No way… the Weird Sisters!?" An excited buzz of whispering spilled across the hall as all eyes turned towards the stage set at the front of the hall where the band in question was playing their hit song _Do the Hippogriff._

"Yeah…" Harry grinned "This is going to be a great party."

And that's when he noticed her coming down the steps. Garbed in the most beautiful crimson and bronze dress he had ever seen, she evoked the image of an elegant bird of flame. Much of her face was obscured by the ornate mask, but her piercing eyes and stunningly red lips drew him in.

"Catch up with you later…" Harry half-mumbled to Theo as he made his way through the crowd to his Lady Phoenix.

"Yeah, sure!" Theo shot back sarcastically "Leave the guy in the suit of armor to pick up chicks by himself!" But Harry was too far away to hear.

"Why hello." Harry smirked behind his mask as he extended his hand regally to her. "May I have the pleasure of your name, Miss…?"

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." She remarked back coyly, yet still offering him her hand, which he bent down to kiss.

"Now, my lady," Harry remarked sarcastically "May I have this dance?" With a short inclination of her head, the two of them disappeared into the crowd.

- - -

Hours passed, and the party slowly died down. The First Years were the first to leave, either because they weren't accustomed to parties like this, or they were just exhausted from the long day. Soon, more of the lower years left, thinning out the crowd to mostly 5th years and older, with a smattering of some of the more adventurous fourth years.

Harry and his mystery date had found a quiet corner of the Great Hall to spend the rest of their evening. After dancing for so long, the two of them had run out of steam. Harry had gotten both of them Butterbeer from the table of refreshments. In the background, the Weird Sisters had finally began to play their slower songs.

_When all is dark and there is no light_

_Lost in the deepest star of night_

_I see you_

"So," Harry asked quietly "Which house are you?"

"Nuh-unh!" Lady Phoenix shook her head "That would be telling! Its not like the masks will last any longer."

"I guess I can anticipate the discovery." Harry smiled.

_Your hands are shaken baby_

_You ain't been sleeping lately_

_There's something out there_

_And it don't seem very friendly does it?_

_But it's difficult_

_There's something much more powerful_

_Than both of us possessing me_

Both their eyes locked for the umpteenth time that night. For some reason, Harry had the irresistible urge to kiss her. And it looked like she was thinking the same thing as well. Both of them leaned in slowly, not sure whether or not to actually do it. After what felt like an eternity, Harry felt her lips on his, and they finally connected. Elation rose in Harry as he felt the electricity of the simple act - more energy than he had ever gotten from his time with Turpin, more than his short stint with Greengrass. This was right, whoever it was.

_I've got to get to grips_

_I don't want to feel like this_

_Your voice keeps haunting me_

_I cannot eat or sleep_

_I'm going crazy in this hazy fantasy_

_You put a spell on me_

_Aw but I ain't going down at all_

The two slowly pulled back, Harry's mask dissolving. With a whir, he was revealed for himself. "Well, I guess you know my name now. Care to reciprocate?"

But she backed up, visibly shocked. Immediately, she turned and ran out of the Great Hall, fleeing Harry. As she exited the party, Harry saw a whir as the tip of her robes transformed back.

_So take your hands off me_

_Tonight I'm breaking free_

_This is the night_

_This is the night_

_So take your hands off me_

_Tonight I'm breaking free_

_This is the night_

_This is the night_

"Wait! I don't know who you are!" Harry called after, dismayed by the turn of events. "Who are you?" He tried to chase her into the corridor, but there was no one to be seen. Still, Harry was determined: he _had_ to know who she was.

- - -

A.N.: Whew! Another chapter. I finally broke the 20k words mark, the first landmark on my way to make this a full 100k+ word fic! Also, sorry for the big dramatic cliffy, but I couldn't resist a little bit of drama for this chapter. The song _This is the Night _is taken from the Harry Potter wiki, which took it from the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire film, in which the Weird Sisters performed. Just wanted to make it clear that I did not create it and that it is the property of whoever came up with it (J.K. Rowling? Someone else?)

Melferd: Thank you for the review. As for the twins, they'll kinda slowly fade into the backdrop for the next little while, but I'm hoping to bring them back - I really want to try and write some Twin dialogue!

Pstibbons: Its sad to hear that you disagree with me. Unfortunately, I'm going to write it the way I think it would be. Ron will not die unless there is a reason, and if you haven't read my profile yet, I am an avid anti basher. I'll try to make their 'friendship' seem a little less stable, as you've probably have seen in this chapter, we'll see how that works out.

Jedipilot24: Same thing I said to Stebbins - I'll tone it down, but I won't turn the fic on its head to fit others sensibilities. I really am doing this fic for myself, so I'm going to write it the way I want to.

Everyone else who reviewed: Thank you so much for your reviews! It's why I love to write. Instant gratification from complete strangers!

Also, I just want to say thanks to everyone who has reviewed to a fic. However, I can see from my hits (4k+!) that there are a large number of people who aren't reviewing. For that group of people, please click the button below and review! It doesn't have to be long - maybe just a "Good fic!", but I love to hear from my audience.


	6. Chapter 6

Hermione Jean Granger had just kissed Harry Potter! Though of course, Hermione reminded herself, Harry didn't know. She had ran away in surprise as soon as she saw who he was. Not exactly the way she imagined her first kiss to happen.

"Dragon Pox" she swiftly spoke to the Fat Lady, storming up to her dormitories. She just needed to sleep on this, get some perspective.

"Fun night?" Ron snapped bitterly. Hermione just ignored him - he was just bitter about the party. Every year, Ron hoped for an invitation from Slughorn, and every year he was disappointed. The worst thing he could do now was complain to Ginny, and Hermione had more important things to worry about.

Throwing herself down on her bed, she tried to ease herself to sleep, but to no avail. She just couldn't stop thinking about the night… Harry had been the perfect gentleman - witty, courteous, and an amazing dancer. But it couldn't be right - they were in two completely different houses. Slytherin and Gryffindor _never_ got along. If he knew that she was the one he had spent the night with, he'd just laugh at her - and Hermione was not looking for the stress of rejection. Sighing frustratedly, she smothered herself with her pillow and screamed into it. A million thoughts were going through and they were driving her crazy. Not even when she studied for end of term exams was she so worked up.

Eventually, she drifted off uncomfortably into sleep, but it was not an easy night for her.

- - -

Draco was the last to make his way up to the boys fifth year's dormitories, his robes messed up conspicuously. "Have fun, guys?" He drawled as he got into bed.

"Yeah." Theo replied sleepy. "Hey Harry, now was it with your mystery girl."

"I don't want to talk about it." Harry said flatly. He was too tired to give out explanations.

"Bet it didn't go well, then." Blaise commented airily from the confines of his bed. Harry threw one of his pillows at the offending Slytherin. "Whoa! That bad?"

Harry paused, debating whether or not to tell his friends. "It was a great night. She was funny, smart, danced great. By the end of the night, we got to snogging, and my costume wore off. As soon as she noticed, she spooked and ran off. Now I've got no idea who she is."

"Bummer, mate." Draco replied, finally getting under his covers. "Have you considered asking Slughorn for a favor?"

"Wha?" Harry asked, bewildered.

"He sent everyone the masks." Draco explained "So if you remember her costume, he should be able to tell you who she it."

"He'll never go for it." Harry replied "Confidentially and all that." But Harry then set his mind on trying anyway - he had to know who she was.

- - -

"Professor Slughorn!" Harry called out to the potions master after an excruciatingly long potions class. "May I have a word?"

"Of course, my boy!" Slughorn beamed mischievously. "In my office?"

For what felt like the billionth time, Harry entered his Head of House's office.

"Caramelized Pineapple?" He offered, and Harry politely declined; it was never wise to get in between a man and his favorite food.

"May I assume this is about your mysterious paramour from the ball?" Slughorn winked at Harry, whose mouth dropped open in shock.

"How did you know about that?"

"I keep tabs on everyone who attends my parties. That way I can be of some use in situations like these."

"So, are you going to tell me who she is?" Harry asked. Was it really going to be this easy?

"Unfortunately not, my boy." Slughorn shook his head almost remorsefully. "The girl in question hasn't revealed herself to you, so I can only assume that she does not wish to be… unmasked. And I can't have people lose their trust in me, you understand."

"Yeah…" Harry said, getting up from his chair, a sudden weight placed upon his shoulders. He was now going to have to do it the hard way.

Though, just as he was to cross the threshold of the office, Slughorn called after him. "You know, I guess it couldn't hurt to give a few pointers. The girl you seek is neither in Slytherin or Ravenclaw - just in case you had worries about your past endeavors coming back to haunt you."

And the sudden weight that Harry felt lessened significantly. Though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, he had worried that he had fallen for Greengrass or Turpin all over again. With the possibility of scandal out of the way, Harry made his way to Transfiguration feeling confident.

- - -

"Come on, Hermione, tell me!" Ginny implored to her friend. Hermione sighed. This was _not _the way she wanted to spend her Saturday morning. "Ever since the Halloween party, you've been all mopey."

"It's nothing, honest." Hermione tried to say in her most convincing voice, but her red-headed companion was not taking no for an answer.

"You do realize that I won't stop until you tell me what's going on, right?"

"Fine!" Hermione exclaimed, causing a few people in the corridor to stare at her. "I'll tell you tonight. I've got transfiguration right now." And she left her friend behind, not sure exactly what to say.

But she had bigger worries than confiding in Ginny. Potter, no, Harry, Hermione corrected herself, had decided to get serious in classes, and he was quickly taking away Gryffindor's edge in the House Cup. But it was the fact that he was better at casting spells than her. While she really didn't care about the House Cup, much of the house relied on her to keep them in the race. On top of that, she liked being the best in the class, and she wasn't just ready to let Harry take over.

- - -

"As you know, at the end of the first semester," Professor McGonagall explained to her double class of Gryffindors and Slytherin "We will be holding a practice examination for the O.W.L.s at the end of this year. You will be assessed by your teachers on a slightly smaller scale than what you will be expected to perform on the real thing, but we will be grading you on your performance nonetheless."

The not-so-academic students all groaned at this.

"So, today we will be going over Vanishing Spells - I can personally guarantee you that they will expect you to be proficient with them if you wish to continue on to N.E.W.T. levels with me next year. We will start with hedgehogs, because they are vertebrates, and are easier to properly vanish. The incantation is _Evanesco_. For further information, I suggest you open your copies of _Intermediate Transfiguration _to page 87."

Harry flipped the book open to the appropriate page, where a moving picture of an elderly wizard properly demonstrating how to administer the spell. After a couple times watching the picture, Harry felt sufficiently prepared to attempt the Vanishing Spell. He got up and collected a hedgehog from Professor McGonagall's desk.

"_Evanesco!_" He exclaimed, gesturing at the hedgehog, but nothing happened.

"Mr. Potter, please remember to concentrate completely - the slightest break in your concentration, and the spell will fail." McGonagall commented.

Harry looked across the classroom where the Gryffindor contingent was camping out. Granger had her hedgehog as well, and was trying, unsuccessfully, to vanish the hedgehog. Harry smirked slightly; apparently, they both had things on their minds.

- - -

"And today is the highly anticipated Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff Quidditch match!" Lee Jordan called from the stand. "From the Gryffindor Team: Johnson, Bell, Spinnet, and the Four Weasleys!" A roar of approval came from the Red and Gold half of the pitch, while the few Slytherins that had bothered to come to the game hissed and jeered.

"Down with the Gryffindorks!" Harry yelled at the whizzing blurs that passed by his face as they made their initial lap around the pitch.

"Now, the Hufflepuff team! Smith, Cadawaller, Applebee, O'Flaherty, Rickett, Fleet, and Diggory!" This time, the cheering came from the yellow and black portion of the pitch, backed by the Slytherins. A few boos came from the Gryffindor part of the pitch.

"Okay, I want you guys to watch how Hufflepuff plays." Harry turned to face the rest of the Slytherin team who came to watch as well. "They've got good technique, but they're really predictable if you know what to watch for."

"…And, we're off!" Jordan called as the Team Captains finished rising into the air. The bludgers were released, and the quaffle tossed up. "Hufflepuff with the quaffle!"

"Watch carefully." Harry called to his chasers. "They'll funnel the ball, left, right, center, over and over again. If you time it right, it's all to easy to steal the quaffle from their chasers."

Sure enough, Johnson swooped past the Chasers, who stopped for some reason "And Johnson has the quaffle for Gryffindor! Very pretty girl by the way."

Harry could almost hear McGonagall snapping at him from the announcer's parapet.

"And Johnson scores! Gryffindor leading twenty to zero."

At this point, Harry stopped giving pointers to the team. He trusted Draco to do his job properly, and for some reason he really didn't picture Crabbe and Goyle remembering any advice he gave anyways. Instead, he focused on the Seekers. Diggory was clearly the better of the two. He had years of experience on the Weaslette, and had about as much talent as anyone could have without seriously considering playing professional Quidditch.

Ginny, on the other hand, was smaller and had better maneuverability, definitely the biggest emerging threat to the cup as the years passed. Sure, Chang and Diggory might be better, but they were gone in a couple years. Which meant that small untrained seekers would replace him. The Weaslette had a lot of potential to get better (she couldn't be too much worse and still be on the team; even with her brother as team captain), and she'd be playing against him every game until he graduated.

But Harry's thoughts of Ginny had ceased to be about Quidditch. Like a disenchanted bludger, Harry felt his stomach drop like a stone - what if Ginny was the one from the Masque? No, he assured himself, there was no possible was he and the Ginger could snog. She wouldn't have run away, she would have laughed in his face - would she? Harry shook his head, he needed to make a list of who it could be.

- - -

"Ron's never going to let this one go." Ginny moaned into her hands. "320 to 120! We would have won, maybe even cut our losses from Slytherin and Ravenclaw. But no! I just had to miss the snitch! We're so far behind now!"

"It wasn't your fault." Hermione consoled her friend "It's your second year on the team. Cedric's been a seeker almost three times as long as you have. You'll do better next term."

"You don't know Ron, then!" Ginny took her head out of her hands "He'll hold onto this for months, maybe even years. And the next time I get him angry, he'll bring this up! I'll never live it down!"

"Well," Hermione tried another tactic "How about we stop worrying about Ron, and start worrying about all the homework that's due next week?"

Ginny grudgingly agreed, pulling her books out of her bag. "Do you remember anything about Animaguses? Professor McGonagall assigned us a foot and a half on them."

"Animaguses… animaguses…" Hermione thought out loud "I don't have any books on them. The library should have a few… Most of the material is about the legal process - there's loads of paperwork and regulations on them."

"Then let's go!" Ginny exclaimed, stuffing all of her materials into her bag. "I hate getting up early on Monday mornings to do work."

Hermione silently followed her friend out of the Gryffindor common room smiling. She always knew that work was the best distraction from real life issues.

- - -

"So, the mystery girl isn't in Ravenclaw or Slytherin?"

"Nope." Harry replied "And I'm pretty sure that she's either fifth year or six year - maybe fourth, but she was in a grade close to us."

"Well Slughorn sure made your life easier for you." Draco replied, copying down Harry's potions notes. "You ready for the test in McGonagall's tomorrow?"

"I almost vanished it today." Blaise moaned. "But she gave me a 'P' for the day. Said I wasn't pronouncing it right."

"That's bollocks!" Theo replied. "She gave me an 'A', and I barely did anything. Maybe she has something against you?"

"Honestly, I don't get why you guys are complaining." Harry exclaimed "It's not that hard…"

"Oh yeah, coming from mister 'I'm the top of the class now', that's really reassuring." Blaise sarcastically shot back.

"I've got better things to do than listen to you complain." Harry waved him off. And he did. Before him was a list of all the girls at the dance that could have been the one. Almost all of the Hufflepuff girls were out of contention, only Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, and Megan Jones were left. Thankfully, the list for Gryffindor students only just a bit longer. After a few minutes of consideration, a few more were scratched off the list - Romilda Vane, a girl too fangirlish to run away when she saw his face; Parvati Patil, who clearly didn't fit the description. Soon, he was left with only two Gryffindor girls: Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger. Harry let out a low whistle - the short list left him with a lot more doubts than before.

- - -

"You snogged Potter!" Ginny exclaimed in a barely contained whisper.

"Ssshhhhh!!" Hermione implored. She didn't know what she feared more - someone hearing or Madam Pince kicking them out of the library. "Now do you see why I didn't want to tell you?"

"But… he's such a git!" Ginny threw her arms in the air. "How'd you pick someone like him?"

"I had no idea who he was! And he wasn't like he is normally - he was nice, funny even."

"What are you going to do about him?"

"I don't know." Hermione relied. "I mean, he seems pretty nice sometimes, but I don't think he'd take it well if I told him. What would I do if he laughed at me?"

"If he ever gives you trouble, just tell me." Ginny told Hermione "I'll get my brothers, and we'll make sure that he thinks twice before doing it ever again."

"He's not that bad…" Hermione tried to calm down Ginny. "Just.. Oh, I don't know, just leave it. I'm not sure this even means something."

"Whatever you say…" Ginny shot her friend a glance that clearly meant that she didn't agree with her.

"What?" She snapped at her friend.

"Well, it's obvious that you like him." Ginny explained as if it were the most basic concept. "I mean, whenever we badmouth him, you've got nothing to say. Gryffindor and Slytherin always have bad things to say about each other. I just don't want to see you get hurt because you get all worked up over him."

"Just don't say anything, all right?" Hermione asked. "I want to figure this all out myself. Go do your Animagus essay."

- - -

Weeks passed as Harry continued to narrow down his list - Abbott was going out with that moron MacMillan, so he crossed her off. More to Harry's relief, the Weaslette was removed from the list when he saw her locking lips with another Gryffindork - Dean Tomas. To really set the fireworks off, he sent an anonymous letter to Ron, who clearly didn't know about his little sister's extracurricular activities.

But even as the list thinned, Harry started to have a harder and harder time eliminating girls from the list. Between competing with Granger for top marks, and Quidditch practice more than half of each week, Harry barely had any free time at all - he was pretty much out of the loop with Theo's scheming against the Gryffindorks. Still, it made it all the funnier when Harry's least favorite family of Gingers had spectacularly comical mishaps happen to them.

"You should have seen Ron's face!" Blaise exclaimed as Harry wrote his Potions essay. "His face was actually redder than his hair! I've never seen anything like it!"

"You're overestimating, Blaise." Theo remarked nonchalantly "But I must admit, I outdid myself this time."

"I bet the Weasels wish they could get McGonagall to pin you down for something, Theo." Harry said, not looking up from his notes. "If 'Percy the Prefect' was still here, you'd be stuck in detention for the rest of the term."

"Yeah," he conceded "But it still would be worth it."

"Hey," Draco called out as he entered the dormitories.

"Where were you, Mr. Mystery?" Theo inquired "It's almost midnight!"

"Well," the platinum blonde drawled "Pansy and I were spending some… quality time down in the common room. We had to cut the evening short when Professor Slughorn cleared the room for the night."

"You and Pansy are getting pretty serious." Blaise commented

"Yeah." Theo agreed

"Father approves of her." Draco said, falling back onto his bed "And I like her well enough. It just makes sense."

But before Theo and Blaise could tease Draco, Harry butted in. "Hey, Draco - you got my copy of Potions Most Arcayne? I need to look something up for Slughorn's essay."

"Yeah, sure" Draco flipped over and rummaged through his trunk. "By the way, how's the Mystery Girl list going?"

"Slow." Harry sighed as Draco tossed him the book, expertly catching it like any Seeker would. "Between classes and Quidditch, I don't have the time to stalk multiple girls."

"Bet they'd think you'd be a pretty huge prat if they caught you." Theo quipped. Harry threw one of his potions books in Theo's general direction. But Theo made a good point, Harry silently conceded. The fact that he had to make sure that the girls didn't know what he was doing seriously hampered his search.

"Hey, Blaise, Theo" Harry called out "Care to help me out?"

- - -

It was well known that Hermione had a nose in a book constantly - she was the best in the class in almost every subject. Well, except Potions. Harry Potter had a lock on that. Everyone said it was in his blood. But still, Hermione managed to keep perfect coursework in all of the subjects by almost constantly studying.

Currently, she was focusing on another matter entirely, however. A certain Slytherin student who kept beating her in Potions, in fact. After the entire incident at the Halloween Ball, it was the second most important thing on her mind - behind classes, of course.

She honestly didn't think that he would want anything to do with her if he knew, though. She was muggle-born, and although Voldemort's fall meant that such discrimination was nearly extinct, Harry came from an important wizarding family. How could he be interested in a Witch with two muggle parents - dentists, no less! She could not think of a more mundane family for a Witch.

On the other hand, though, she knew that if she never asked him, she would never have the chance to find out. That inevitably lead to her asking the question she had been avoiding: what if? What if Harry actually liked her back?

Sure, he was in a different House, but that never really mattered to her. Sure, Ron would never let her hear the end of it, but she could live with it. Most of the time she only had to be around him to humor Ginny. Harry was also the Quidditch captain. Sports didn't interest Hermione so much, though, so that didn't matter in her decision. The fact that Harry was quite possibly the only person in her year actually as smart as her was what really made her consider about it. That and… well, he was obviously quite good looking. That was a big plus. Smart and good looking and possibly interested was a combination that she couldn't really pass up.

Mulling over it, Hermione made her decision. She was going to have to work up the courage to tell him. It didn't matter what he said, but she had to try.

Hermione chuckled to herself. Usually it was the boy who asked out the girl. But Hermione most certainly wasn't a creature of tradition.

- - -

"See you up at the castle, Harry?" Draco asked as they changed out of their practice uniforms.

"Yeah." Harry replied "Good practice. We might even get a 300 point lead over Hufflepuff this time around."

Draco laughed "See you at dinner, then."

Harry quickly dressed and caught up with Draco right before entering the Castle. Sitting down at the Slytherin table, they were quickly joined by Theo and Blaise.

"Any news on the Mystery Girl front?" Harry asked.

"That was quite possibly the most difficult thing I've ever done." Theo quipped. "Having girls not pay attention to me? Near impossible!"

"Sure." Harry sarcastically remarked "Did you guys find out anything, though?"

"All of the ones you had us tail are single as far as we can tell." Blaise sighed. "I'm sorry, man. I guess you're at a dead end."

"How many left?" Draco asked, looking up from the dinner he had been hungrily devouring after a grueling Quidditch practice.

"Three - Bones, Jones and Granger" Harry replied, sagging in his seat. "I'm never going to figure this one out…"

"Granger's still on the list?" Draco inquired "That surprises me."

"Why?" Harry asked. Draco had been mostly removed from the Mystery Girl process, so involved with Parkinson. In fact, Harry was very much surprised that Draco had thought about the potential of him and Granger at all between classes, Quidditch and his own girl.

"You're both so intellectual." Draco explained casually, as if it was the most simple thing in the world. "You'd be butting heads left and right."

"Yeah, I bet it would be a nightmare." Harry replied "Imagine Granger and me together… no one would ever have a chance in class!"

- - -

"_Yeah, I bet it would be a nightmare." Harry replied "Imagine Granger and me together…"_

Harry Potter had a lot of nerve saying that. Especially right when Hermione had finally worked up the nerve to talk to him about what had happened at the Halloween ball. But even before she could even express her feelings for him, he had to go and badmouth her to her friends.

This was exactly why she hadn't wanted to do anything about it. She knew that he didn't have any interest her, but it still hurt to hear. She never should have even considered admitting her identity to him.

She was so upset that Hermione barely noticed Ginny as she sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ginny asked, immediately picking up on her friend's distraught nature.

"Nothing." Hermione sullenly replied.

"Are we going to do this again?" Ginny said with a slightly annoyed tone "Because we both know that you're going to tell me eventually."

This was when Hermione really cracked. Slammer her hands against the table, she abruptly left the Gryffindor table, tears in her eyes. Almost all eyes at the Gryffindor were on here, and a few from neighboring Hufflepuff. Ginny, realizing something was really wrong, immediately abandoned her dinner to follow Hermione.

"Tell me, Hermione, what's wrong?." Ginny said softly. "Was it Potter?"

"You should have heard him." She choked out. "It'd be a nightmare - Granger and I."

"That. Bloody. Arrogant. Git." Ginny's face became redder than her hair in true Weasley fashion. "I'll go tell the twins and Ron. He'll never know what hit him."

- - -

"Oi! Potter!" A twin called out as Harry made his way through the halls.

The other one quickly chorused in "You're a real prat, you know!"

"Gentlemen, gentlemen." Harry smirked, turning around to see the full Weasel contingent out in force. "Do you really want to repeat this? You know, I won't consider it cowardly if you back off now."

"Yeah, right." Ron growled "You don't have any friends this time to bail you out."

That wiped Harry's smirk off of his face. Theo and Blaise were already down at lunch probably, and Draco had snuck off with Pansy for a little snack of his own. If he was going to get out of this, he was going to have to do it himself.

Immediately drawing his wand, he settled into a dueling stance that he saw his father use. "I'm warning you guys. I know hexes that you can't even imagine."

This prompted all four of the Gryffindors pulling their wands.

"I don't care how good your one hex is." A twin stated.

"Four'll be infinitely worse." The other finished.

"_Expellarmus!_" Harry cried, blasting the wand out of one of the twins hands with a flash of red light. Hopefully with one of them disarmed, he could somehow deal with the other three. And by not actually using a curse, they couldn't get him out of the Ravenclaw game.

"Big mistake." Ginny growled, and the remaining three Weasleys with wands shot off their own hexes. That was all Harry saw before blacking out.

- - -

"Bloody Gryffindors." Madame Pomfrey muttered, not knowing that Harry was conscious. "They're either sending people here or getting sent here."

"What happened?" Harry groaned, just starting to fully become aware of his surroundings.

"Those Weasleys really seem to have it in for you." Draco commented from the foot of the bed "You sure Ginny's off your list? Because she seems to be taking a real interest on you."

"No, she hates my guts." But reflecting on Draco's words gave him an idea. "But this does mean that Bones and Jones are off my list."

"What?" Theo exclaimed in a barely contained voice - he almost forgot how much Madam Pomfrey hated people disturbing patients.

"Think about it." Harry rationalized. "It's got to be Hermione. That's why they keep picking fights with me. They can't blame me for Quidditch after Hufflepuff. I haven't started any fights with them, and they didn't say that they thought I had anything to do with the pranks you pulled. Which means it has to be someone from Gryffindor. Hermione's the only one left in Gryffindor."

"Did you really put that all together from getting your arse handed to you?" Draco snickered.

"There's a reason my marks are higher than yours." Harry glibly replied. Now it was Theo and Blaise snickering. "But seriously, trust me on this one."

"You going to do anything about it?" Blaise asked.

"Dunno." Harry replied. "I guess I'll have to wait until I'm out of this hospital bed."

- - -

A.N.: Yet another chapter. Sorry for taking so long, I had to focus on classwork - 4 AP courses really takes its toll. But on the bright side, I got my first pick for University! But, back on topic, we've got a story to talk about.

Initially, I said that there would be five chapters to a semester, with one chapter in between each for winter and summer breaks (as appropriate) however, as I get further into this, I'm going to set it as a variable. I know for a fact that I'm going to have to put this first semester into six chapters. Also, we've hit 7k hits, whooo! Thirdly, if you haven't noticed, on my author's page, I update it whenever I've got progress on the current chapter. That way you guys can tell when I'm actually getting work done, and when I'm slacking off.

Pstibbons: I'm glad you'll persist in reading this - I guess that's really a great compliment for the writing of my fic. As for the Harry/Parents conversation, I considered putting it in, but there wasn't much substantive I wanted to put in. I'm planning to go back eventually and redo some of the chapters that I'm not happy with after I've completed 5th year, and chapter 5 is probably going to be in the first batch of the reworking. And, as I guess you can tell from this chapter, the robes did not have a definitive color. They were your run of the mill black robes.

Vukk: I doubt you'll actually read this, which I must admit, I'm slightly disappointed by. However, you mentioned that I should have mentioned Ol' Moldy Voldy was dead. This is not necessarily true. For anyone who's read up to this point, you may have noticed that I said that Harry's dad defeated Voldemort _six times. Which means that there's still a chance for us to see some of JK's favorite villain… just to keep suspense up!_

_Omgahitsbritt08: I'm trying to develop Hermione in this chapter more, as you've probably seen. She's the brightest witch at Hogwarts, so see her competing with Harry for academics quite often._

_My-Edward-199: I hope this chapter cleared any worries you might have had about Ginny as the mystery girl :D_

_Nightangel1220: same as above :D_

_Witchysha: That's pretty fine complement, yeah. I didn't know where exactly I came up with the idea for that scene: some people say Cinderella, some say Romeo and Juliet. Truth is, it popped into my brain before I even finished the first chapter. The fact that I remembered it long enough to put it into the story told me immediately that it was a good idea._

_Once again, I just want to remind all of you readers who haven't posted a review, please click the button below and let me know what you think. Reading reviews is a major motivation in me completing chapters. This means that if you want to see these chapters get finished sooner, give me some encouragement :D_


	7. Chapter 7

- - -

"I don't think I've ever seen McGonagall so mad." Ginny exclaimed as all four of the Weasleys returned to Gryffindor tower. It had been a good hour of lecturing from Professor McGonagall, but none of them felt particularly bad about it.

"Mum's going to send a Howler" Fred said. "Or four." George quipped.

"Still worth it." Ron exclaimed. "It's nice to take his pompous arse down a notch."

"Really?" Hermione was sitting in one of the armchairs. "What were you thinking? You could have been expelled!"

"Oh, come on, Hermione!" Ron said "You'd think that of all people, you'd at least be appreciative. "

"I do appreciate the concern." Hermione conceded, barely. "I just wish that you would have a bit more tact. I bet that all of you got in big trouble."

"Detention for the rest of the term." Ginny said, shooing her brothers away. "Don't worry about it, Hermione. Potter deserved it. And there's only a few weeks left. Fred and George already had detention for most of the term, anyways."

"Fine." Hermione finally gave up on trying to scold her friend. "I've got to study for Defense Against the Dark Arts, anyways." Ginny gave a halfhearted smile and ascended the stairs to the girls dormitories. After all their years of knowing each other, Ginny knew when to give Hermione space.

While it may have looked like she was studying, Hermione was actually sulking. She hadn't yet given herself the time to get over Harry, no, Potter's cruel words. How could he be so cruel? He went so far as to apologize for Greengrass, and he seemed pretty friendly this year. Maybe it was all a prank. Harry, Draco, and all the other Slytherin boys made fun of her as first years. Back then, she had "Buck Teeth" and "Hair like a Broomstick". She had slowly grown out of that, of course, but their cruelty took much longer to fade from memory.

That was probably it. Another one of Potter and Malfoy's cruel jokes. Maybe if she just ignored them, they'd think it wasn't funny and leave her alone. Especially after Ginny and her brothers gave Harry a hard time for what he said. She could only hope.

- - -

"Mister Potter!" Harry turned to see Professor Lupin standing at the front of the classroom. "A word, please?"

As all the other students packed their belongings and headed out of the classroom, Harry followed Professor Lupin up the stairs to his office.

"I heard about the altercation with the Weasleys." He started "You must have done something seriously bad to get them riled up. They've got detention until the end of term. Well, Fred and George were already doing detentions for most of that, but you get the point."

"I didn't do anything." Harry replied "Maybe they're just mad about Quidditch?"

"Perhaps, Harry." The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor sighed "I really didn't want to do this, but James floo-called me as soon as he got the news. He wants me to work with you on your dueling skills."

"Why?" Harry asked, slightly resentful that his father felt the need to step in. "Its not like I'll get good enough to take on four wizards when I'm in a corner."

"But you could, Harry." Remus explained "Shielding Charms could help you block most of the jinxes they throw around in the hallways. Learning how to dodge properly, practicing your disarming."

"You want me to join the dueling club?" Harry asked bewildered. Students weren't allowed to join until in their NEWT levels.

"No, of course not." Professor Lupin replied "Dumbledore hates favoritism like that. Honestly, I'm pretty surprised that he lets professor Slughorn do what he does. I'm talking about private lessons during one of your free periods. What do you have open?"

"Um…" Harry rummaged through his bag for a battered copy of his schedule. "Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Friday afternoons."

"Excellent!" Lupin said, not taking his eyes off of the paper "I think Tuesdays will do quite nicely. We'll start with shielding charms. Let me get you a text on them." And the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor disappeared into his office.

Harry let his eyes wander across the classroom, eventually coming in contact with a Lunar calendar. "Full moon soon?" Harry called. In the early years of Professor Lupin coming to Hogwarts, Sirius and James came monthly to help keep others safe. However, Professor Slughorn was quickly advised of the situation, and eventually got the potion supplied regularly.

Lupin sighed, handing him a textbook. "Unfortunately, yes. Thankfully, Slughorn's expertise will make for a quiet Sunday evening. I want you to read up on chapter seven for next Tuesday. And remember to get those twelve inches done on werewolves - I expect top marks from you."

"Thanks, Professor!" Harry replied, jogging out of class to try to catch up with his classmates.

As Harry jogged down the hall towards Transfiguration, he passed up Granger. He wasn't really sure what to do about that. She had been avoiding him for the past couple weeks. Even now she refused to meet his gaze. Maybe she knew that he knew about the Halloween Ball. Harry shook his head. Such conundrums were just a headache.

- - -

The nerve of that boy! Hermione huffed angrily just at the thought of him. He had the utter gall to give her a smile after all the things he said to her. Even after Ginny had, quite against Hermione's intentions, convinced half of the Weasley to beat up on him.

But worst of all, she had potions with Harry next. It wasn't bad enough that he made fun of her, but now they had to spend two whole hours watching Slughorn shower Potter with admiration, while she struggled to eke out an "O" in the class with actual effort. Sure, she understood the theory pretty well, and the exercise thereof, but something was lost in translation this year for Hermione. As the year progressed, and they attempted to complete O.W.L. level potions, she found herself pushed to the limit each and every session with Slughorn.

As usual, Potter was at the front of the class, partnered with Malfoy, and flanked by Nott, Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle. Hermione chose to sit with Parvati a row behind Harry and his Slytherin delinquents. While Parvati wasn't the perfect potions partner, she was proficient enough to work with whenever a potion required two people to make.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" Slughorn exclaimed. "Today, we will be making the Draught of Contentment. Does anyone - yes, Mr. Potter?"

Hermione had tried to answer this one, but Potter had beaten her to it. He was the only person in the class who knew more about potions than her - excluding the Professor, of course. The Draught of Contentment was -

"The Draught of Contentment is a potion designed to temporarily eliminate any sensations of need." Harry explained, cutting off Hermione's thoughts "It's particularly popular with witches on a diet. It's even more popular with the O.W.L. certification board because it has a number of complicated instructions."

"Excellent!" Slughorn practically gushed. Hermione just made a face. Teacher's Pet. "Ten points to Slytherin! Now, a description of the potion is on page one hundred and sixty nine of your textbooks, and the instructions are on the board. Begin!"

Hermione rapidly opened her book to the appropriate page and began to read furiously. According to the textbook, the disparate elements of rich clay, spring water, Merlin's Bean, and half a dozen other ingredients had to be mixed precisely in the correct order over the course of an hour and a half to meet expectations.

As she began to copy down the instructions from the front of the room, she couldn't help but notice Harry lazily get up and bather supplies for the potion without even bothering to take his textbook out of his bag. It took a worried glance from Parvati to notice that she was grinding her teeth. Hermione immediately stopped - her parents would kill her if she ever picked up that habit. But that didn't stop Hermione for being angry with the arrogance of the boy sitting in front of him. So, she decided to beat him at his own game.

Hermione stood up, and walked as quickly as she could without attracting attention into the potions supply closet. Harry was almost done procuring his own.

"Trying to race me Hermione?" Harry smirked. She just ignored him. His banter wasn't worth it now. She stretched up onto her tip-toes, looking at the higher shelves. Alluvial Clay… Evergrass… Ferrous Powder… Merlin Beans… with all the initial ingredients to the potion, Hermione quickly exited and got to work. Upon her return, Parvati had already gotten the water up to boiling.

Immediately, Hermione put in the alluvial clay, and stirred counterclockwise thirteen times. "What's the next step?" She asked Parvati.

"Here, I'll get it." The girl replied, putting the diced Evergrass into the pot. Immediately, the potion began to glow green.

"Excellent!" Hermione heard Slughorn exclaim from nearby. Beaming, she turned towards the source of the noise. It was about time that she got some recognition for her work.

But, alas, it wasn't to be. Slughorn was not, in fact, congratulating her, but Potter, who was quite clearly a few steps ahead of her.

"What did you add?" The potions master inquired. "The hue is almost textbook perfect, and you didn't request anything from the advanced cabinet - you need some Erumpet horn powder for that step."

"A bit of molten gold, sir." Harry replied. "It's connection to energy satisfies the Erumpet horn's qualities, while the other properties of gold enhances the potion's functionality overall."

"My dear boy, have you ever considered writing your own potions book?" Slughorn asked in wonderment. "In fact, you could probably even take over my position in a few years, if you keep the work up! Twenty points to Slytherin!"

Hermione slumped back down into her chair. She did everything she could to stop herself from crying. There was no way she was going to break down now. It was bad enough when she started and she was made fun of for her braces. No, she wouldn't give them more ammunition to humiliate her. But she couldn't help but feel so upset. In fact, she felt utterly defeated. No matter how hard she tried, Potter just lived to defeat her nowadays.

"Hermione, can you go get the Erumpet Horn powder? We're almost ready." Parvati asked while mixing the potion.

Hermione mechanically stood up from her seat. Unfortunately, this inevitably led to her knocking over the cauldron into her lap. She screamed quite shrilly as the unpleasantly hot liquid seeped through her robes.

Immediately, Harry noticed this. Turning around from the potion which he and Draco had been stirring, and pulled out his wand, and uttered "_Combisicco!_". The potion reversed the process of seeping through her clothes, and formed a large ball at the tip of his wand. Righting the cauldron, Harry returned it its contents.

"You okay, love?" He grinned, offering Hermione a hand up. Filled with righteous anger at his chauvinistic behavior, Hermione slapped the hand away. She glared up at him with all the fury she could muster. How dare he!

"I'm not your love!" Hermione snapped. Harry jumped back a step in surprise. Almost immediately, she felt the anger replaced with shame and embarrassment. Grabbing her bags as quickly as possible, she barely muttered "Sorry professor, I'm not feeling well." before storming out of the dungeons, slamming the door behind her.

- - -

"Catch you guys later." Harry called out to Draco and the gang as they separated after Potions. Harry had his defense session with Professor Lupin; Draco and company were going to go hang in the common room. As much as he wanted to just blow off the practice and join them, he knew that Professor Lupin would never let that happen.

As he meandered through the hallways, his thoughts couldn't help but to turn to Granger's outburst in the previous class. Maybe it was just midterm stress - she seemed to get wound up every term, pushing herself to get the highest scores in the class. Or maybe it was just her time of the month, Harry surmised. However, neither possibility sat right with Harry. She wouldn't have reacted that strongly for any of the reasons he could think of. Hermione Granger was legitimately mad at him.

Harry's postulations on why a certain brunette was so angry with him caused him to bowl into a couple of scared looking first years. He muttered an apology and continued on as they stared fearfully at him. Normally, he would have thrown a Boo! in for good measure - first years were easy to mess with. But this wasn't the time to engage in such trivial pursuits - more important things were at stake here.

Could it be something he said? No, he'd been pretty polite to her recently, and even when he was a bit rude to her, she took it very well. He could have sworn that she liked him.

Then it dawned on him. Those Weasels must have found out about her thing for him and convinced her that Slytherin and Gryffindor couldn't mix. He had to admit, it was somewhat true - his father and Malfoy's were basically bitter rivals in the ministry. The Weasels were known for their Slytherin hate. And rather than settle it peacefully, those stupid Gryffindorks resorted to violence. They'd already put him in the Hospital Wing a couple times this year. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. And the more it made him want to get revenge on them. As Harry walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, he had already devised numerous nasty plans to get back at Gryffindor.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter." Professor Lupin interrupted Harry from his mad scheming. He was looking somewhat ragged, only a few days after the full moon. "I trust you completed the required reading for the session?"

"Yep." Harry surveyed the newly refurbished Defense room. Gone were the desks and chairs typically there for classes. Instead, there was an open space, an enchanted defense mannequin, and a table with various strange objects Harry didn't recognize.

"Then let's begin." Lupin replied "Stand over in the other corner. We'll start with the weaker jinxes, and work it up until we see where you can't defend yourself anymore, okay?"

Harry just nodded and jogged leisurely towards the other end of the room. "Ready!"

"Excellent. Rictusempra!" The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor cracked his wand like a whip. A flash of light sped at Harry.

"Protego!" Harry bellowed, making a parrying motion with his wand. The light hit what appeared to be an invisible wall and shattered upon contact.

"Good!" Lupin exclaimed. "You have the proper motion with your wand, and clear intent. If you can, don't call the spell out so loudly, unless you're trying to rupture the opponent's eardrums. Yelling takes a bit longer than talking, and that split second can be the difference between blocking and getting hit by a curse. Langlock!"

"Protego!" Harry countered, his voice slightly less overpowering.

"Did you block it, Harry?" Lupin asked. Langlock wasn't a spell whose effects were visible.

"Yea…" Harry replied, though the words had some difficulty coming out. "I fink I jus defflekted it tho…"

"Fair enough. That's still a good start." Lupin quickly applied the counter-jinx to Harry. "You've got it down almost textbook perfect, but like Sirius always says 'smarts doesn't mean squat if you don't have the reflexes to use it'. You need to be quicker on your feet. Anticipate an attack and repel it before they even know what's happening. That way, you have a window of opportunity to retaliate. Lets continue for today trying to improve your reflexes. Langlock!"

- - -

Hermione buried her face into the pillows of her four poster bed. Why? Why did she have to act out? Now everybody would make fun of her. She went from Bucky to Crazy in five seconds flat. Try as she might, Hermione couldn't stop the tears of frustration from leaking out.

"Hey, Hermione." She heard Parvati's voice from beyond the confined of her bed. "Are you okay?"

"Dunno." Was the muffled reply that came through the pillows.

"Just to let you know, us Gryffindors understand." Parvati continued, trying to cajole her friend. "Potter's a jerk. If he's going to treat you the way he does, the least he could do is leave you alone."

"I just don't get it." Hermione sighed, finally extricating her face from the pillows. "Why would he be so nice to me one minute, then a jerk the next? It makes no sense! Why doesn't he just pick one or the other and stick with it?"

"Well," Parvati sat down at the edge of Hermione's bed "My aunt always used to tell me whenever boys would pick on me that it meant that they liked me. Though, knowing Slytherins, its just as likely that he's doing it just to be a prat."

"Sometimes, I really hate teenage drama." Hermione replied. "I just can't wait to graduate and be surrounded by mature adults."

"Like that's ever going to happen." Ginny interjected, entering the fourth years dormitories. "Have you seen my father? He's ancient, and still he babbles on about muggle stuff like the fellytone."

"You mean telephone." Hermione corrected her friend

"Heard about your potions class… bummer." Ginny said, flopping down on the bed next to Hermione. "Is Slughorn going to discipline you?"

"I sincerely doubt it." Hermione replied. "I'm his favorite student besides… besides…" And once again, she buried her face into the pillow.

"Don't worry about Potter, Hermione." Ginny softly cajoled her friend "If you ignore him, he'll leave you alone soon enough. And if he bothers you, I'll take care of him personally."

- - -

"So…" Draco repeated dubiously. "You think that Gryffindor brainwashed Granger into hating you?"

"Well, not brainwashed…" Harry replied, realizing how stupid it sounded. "More like… convinced her that I'm a jerk."

"Well, you are a jerk." Theo chimed in. "I still haven't forgiven you for the incident at Quidditch Tryouts. Those girls were pretty hot."

"Yeah, for first years!" Draco countered. Everyone sniggered at the reply, Theo's face flushing red.

"Shut up! You don't know them."

"Whatever." Harry cut off Theo's rant. "What's more important is taking care of the situation now. First, we need to get back at the Weasels. Not just for just being themselves, but because I'm pretty sure they had something to do with Hermione being mad at me. Then, we need to figure out how to undo whatever they did to her."

"First part of that is easy." Theo replied. "We just need to up the prank war. Problem solved. I'm not sure what to do about saving your little princess from their clutches."

"She's not my princess!" Harry flushed and threw the nearest textbook at him, Theo diving under the table to avoid the projectile.

"Jeez, calm down, mate." He called from his crouched position beneath the table. "You might have hurt someone."

"Honestly?" Draco drawled from his bed. "You're a wizard. Why didn't you just stop the book with magic."

This time it was Theo's turn to blush. He muttered something about Draco under his breath.

"You could just try talking to her." Draco continued, ignoring Theo's response. "The worst that can happen is that she doesn't want to talk to you."

"Fine." Harry conceded. "You guys start with some plans for new pranks, and I'll go talk to her. Don't proceed without me on anything, I want to be personally involved here…"

- - -

As soon as Hermione saw Potter enter the library, she knew that there was trouble. When she saw him make a beeline for her, she really wished that she hadn't come to the library alone. By the time he had finally made it to her, she had already finished packing her bag, got up, and stormed off past him.

"Granger!" He called after as loudly as he could without incurring the wrath of Madam Pince. But she ignored him and just kept on walking. "Hermione!"

The Slytherin walked as quickly as possible to catch up with her, which caused her to increase her own pace. This game continued until she was almost running out of the library.

Harry put on a short burst of speed - she couldn't keep up with the very athletic Quidditch Captain. "Hermione, we need to talk!"

"Get off me!" She swatted his arm away. It was bad enough the way he treated her, why did he feel the need to harass her?

"No." Harry replied, grabbing her by the shoulders, their faces only a few inches apart. "Not until you tell me why you're avoiding me. And what was that in potions yesterday? Is something wrong?"

Hermione blushed. No matter how much she hated him toying with her, she couldn't help but notice how close her lips were to his. It was just like the Halloween Ball. Maybe, just maybe, there was a chance for reconciliation.

"Get off her, Potter!" Hermione turned as much as she could in Harry's grip (or embrace as part of her mind thought of it). Behind them was Ginny, her wand out. "I don't care if they suspend me, its worth it to hex a creep like you."

"Back off, Weaslette." Harry growled. "I came here for a reason, and I won't let you interfere."

Hermione snapped out of the haze of romantic thoughts that had been floating around her head and slipped out of his arms. Again returned her fury at the boy. "Leave me alone Potter! It's the least you could do after everything you've done."

"What the bloody hell have I done?" Harry asked, his gorge rising. Draco was completely and utterly wrong when he said that it couldn't get worse than her just not talking to him. Wrong was an understatement.

"You know what you did, you snakey bastard!" Ginny snapped, interposing herself between Harry and Hermione. "Now, if you know what's good for you, you'll leave poor Hermione alone and torture someone else."

The commotion in the corridor grew, and a few Gryffindors moved up to flank Ginny, showing their support.

Harry immediately pulled out his wand. "No Idea what you're talking about. And I guess I'm a bit like my dad - we're far too reckless."

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Ginny said, and whipped her wand, trying to catch him off guard with her Bat Bogey Hex, but Harry was prepared.

"Protego!" He snapped, and the attack was deflected effortlessly. His Gryffindor opponent's eyes bugged - quite clearly, she wasn't expecting such an outcome. Smirking, Harry struck out with his wand. "Expelliarmus!"

Ginny's want flew into the air, and she slammed back at the force of the disarmament. Harry took a couple steps forward and picked her wand off the ground.

"You know, I should just do you a favor and snap this in two." He remarked idly, looking over the wand. "In the hands of an arrogant bitch like you, you'd just end up killing yourself."

"Enough!" Boomed an authoritative voice. Professor Lupin made his way through the crowd assembled. "Go back to your dormitories! I want everyone except for Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley gone in the next ten seconds!"

The corridor immediately emptied as if all its occupants had disapparated. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher took Ginny's wand out of his hands and returned it to the owner.

"Harry." Lupin's eyes were hard as he glared at the boy. "I'm very disappointed in you. Those lessons were for self defense not to start your own dueling club in the middle of the hallway."

"I'm sorry, professor." Harry replied "She attacked me, though!"

"Is this true, Miss Weasley?" Lupin turned around to face the girl.

"He was harassing Hermione, professor!" The Professor turned back to Harry.

"Not true! I just wanted to talk to her. Then Ginny came and threatened me."

Lupin sighed. "Well, I can't punish you any more than you are now, Miss Weasley. Since you only used defensive spells, Mister Potter, I can only give you one day's detention for dueling in the hallways. You will serve it with me tonight after dinner. You both are dismissed."

- - -

"Professor?" Harry called into the classroom as he knocked on the office door.

"Come in, Harry." Lupin sighed, getting up from his desk. "This isn't actually a real detention, but I want to talk to you about the maturity behind using a wand."

"Maturity?" Harry asked, confused.

"There's a right and a wrong time to use a wand." The professor explained. "I'm telling you this because you're on a dangerous path. You've proven yourself as an accomplished duelist today. But it's only a stone's throw from there to torturing other students with your own jinxes and hexes."

"I'm not ever going to do that." Harry brushed off the concern. "I know right from wrong."

"I'm sure you do, Harry." Lupin replied. "But that's just how your father used to think. He was a brilliant student, and downright brutal in a duel - I'm quite sure that's why he's the Head Auror now. But he became arrogant because of his talents. Did he ever tell you about Severus Snape?"

"No…"

"Severus Snape was a Slytherin student in the same year as us. We, and by we, I mean your father, Sirius, Peter and I, picked on him. He was generally unpleasant. Sirius and your father called him a 'Greasy Git'. His hair was particularly greasy, you see. But your father would constantly hex and jinx him. Because he was picked on so much by us, he made friends with the wrong crowd."

"Wrong crowd?" Harry asked.

"Death Eaters. Well, students who were going to grow up with Death Eaters. The nasty Slytherin kids. They all graduated and became Death Eaters. When your mother and father had you, they went into hiding to protect you. Snape didn't forget how your father had treated him in Hogwarts, and he tracked your parents down. As far as I know, he's the first person in history to have broken a Fidelus charm. Voldemort attacked the house, and your father fought him the first time, when you were two."

"What happened to Snape?" Harry asked, wondering why his parents never told him about this man.

"Well, as much as he hated your father, he was obsessed with your mother. They had been childhood friends. As soon as he realized what he had done, he turned himself in. Dumbledore wanted to use him as a spy against Voldemort, but James wouldn't have it. He's spent the last fourteen years in Azkaban. I doubt he'll be getting out any time soon."

"Sir, why are you telling me this?" Harry still didn't really understand what Lupin was poking at.

"What I'm saying is that you should be less hard on the Gryffindor students." Lupin explained "If you keep fighting with them, then you'll never get along, and they may try to do something like that to you someday. Just because they're in a different house doesn't mean you can't make peace."

"Can I go now, sir?" Harry looked up at the clock. Two whole hours had passed as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had given him the lecture.

"Yes, you may go." Lupin sighed. "Good night, Harry. Please don't get into any more fights this term."

- - -

"We heard about you and the Weaslette, congrats!" Theo slapped Harry on the back jovially.

"Yeah. Congrats on demolishing an underclassman and getting detention for it." Draco sarcastically drawled.

"By the way, we've got some pretty nasty plans set up for those Gryffindorks."

"No." Harry said, Lupin's lesson finally sinking in. "No more pranks. We need to give them a rest until the end of term."

"Why?" Blaise was frustrated. They had spent quite a large amount of time with these plans.

"I don't want to escalate right before the last Quidditch match of the term." Harry replied, happy with the reason. "We can get them next term, don't worry."

"I'm assuming talking to Granger didn't get you anywhere." Draco asked casually.

"Nope. Well, I know she's mad at me for something." Harry frowned "Bloody women, I'll never understand them."

"Why are you putting so much effort into chasing Granger?" Blaise asked. "There's probably a couple dozen girls dying to go out with you here."

"I dunno." Harry replied thoughtfully. After a few moments of deep thought, he replied "Maybe its because I actually really like her. Turpin was cute, but I only liked her because I could have smart conversations with her. I picked Greengrass because she's a knockout, but that ended in a nightmare. Hermione just seems like the perfect girl. She isn't mean, she's as smart if not smarter than I am, and she's pretty cute - especially after the teeth were fixed."

"But the hair!" Theo cried dramatically "It looks like a wooly knorkuk up and died on her head!"

"It's not that bad." Harry chided him. He had to admit, the hair was pretty terrifying in first year. But each year, the hair became less of a tangled mess. It was even somewhat aesthetically pleasing now. And he couldn't help but remember how beautiful it looked at the ball.

"Well, Blaise, Draco, we'd better make it an early night. Training tomorrow, then the last match is this weekend. I want us rested and ready to crush Hufflepuff."

- - -

It was the last game of the season. Both teams had risen into the air, trying their best to ignore the torrent of rain pouring from the sky.

"The last game of the season…" Jordan remarked uninterestedly from his position as the announcer. "Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff."

"Bloody Horrible weather…" he tried to mutter under his breath, but the microphone picked up the words and carried the sound across the pitch. The entire crowd cracked up as McGonagall glared disapprovingly at the announcer.

As soon as the game started, Harry ignored his team to focus on finding the snitch. Multiple practice sessions after the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff game made sure that he wouldn't have to worry about the quaffle game. The only way that the losers in yellow could win this is if pretty boy Diggory stole the snitch from out of his nose.

Scanning the field, Harry adjusted the goggles on his face, swearing under his tongue. Just his luck, rainy conditions on the last match of the season.. But it didn't matter. He was still better than the Hufflepuff seeker.

But then, there was a flash of gold out of the corner of his eye. The snitch. Harry raced down the pitch to catch up with it.

"And Potter's seen something." Jordan stated, rather bored. "Maybe this will be a short game?" He asked rather hopefully.

Cedric had caught on to Harry's attempt to catch the snitch, and sped off following the Slytherin seeker. The Hufflepuff team captain wasn't more than a few broom lengths behind him now. However, it was too late. Harry was in control now.

Harry swept past the Slytherin goalpoasts, trapping the speeding fleck of gold within his hand. The Slytherin section of the pitch exploded into raucous applause, the other sections looking a bit disappointed with the outcome. But Harry didn't care. This was perfect. Slytherin would have to lose all their games next season to come in anything other than first place for the Quidditch cup. Not that he expected to lose a game anyways.

The entire Slytherin team entered formation, and made the customary victory lap around the Quidditch pitch, Harry holding the snitch aloft for all to see.

"The Snitch is caught!" Jordan exclaimed excitedly for the first time in the relatively short game "Twenty minutes in and we have a winner! Now we can go inside!"

This elicited a hearty laugh and some cheers from the stands.

McGonagall nudged him sternly "The score!" She hissed insistently.

"Oh, one hundred and seventy to thirty, Slytherin's favor!" Jordan said before hurrying off the Quidditch pitch with the rest of the students towards the castle.

A handful of diehard Slytherin fans rushed the field to greet the victorious team despite the weather.

As Harry hit the pitch, he pocketed the snitch. Hooch wouldn't notice, and it wasn't like there was a shortage of snitches. It was a pretty cool souvenir of a perfect half season. Harry turned to see his parents coming towards him.

"Bloody brilliant, Harry!" His father exclaimed, clapping him on the back. "Twenty minutes! I'd recon that's the fastest game I've seen at Hogwarts. You're almost as good as I was when I was your age!"

"As good?" Harry replied teasingly "Don't you mean _twice_ as good?"

"I'm just glad you didn't end the game in the hospital wing." Lily said calmly "There's something about you Potter men and Madame Pomfrey gets you in there every other day or so."

"Speaking of that, we heard about your fight with the Weasleys." James continued. "Lupin teaching you some new tricks?"

"I had a talk with Mrs. Weasley." Harry's mom said "She said they were going to be punished severely for that."

"Yeah." Harry grinned, replying to his father's comment. As grueling as the practices were, he was really beginning to enjoy them. Perhaps he would become an Auror like his father. "I don't think I'm quite ready for a four on one fight yet, though." Nothing could ruin today.

Harry's father looked over at Lucius, who was complementing Draco on the game. "Look, Harry, you're going to hear stuff in the paper about Draco's dad very soon."

"What do you mean?" Harry frowned. The fact that his father wasn't scowling at the thought of Draco's father disconcerted him.

"He's done…" James started, but after a moment, decided against explaining it to Harry. "It doesn't matter what he's done, just that he's going to be in a spot of trouble. The minister is very displeased with him. Just wanted to give you a heads up." With that, James and Lily made their farewells, and left.

"Bloody arse." Harry muttered under his breath angrily. They never explained anything to him. But he let his anger give way to happiness. This was quite possibly the best day he could possibly have. The only thing that could make it better at this point was to figure out why Hermione was so angry with him.

- - -

A.N.: Whoo! Another chapter! I hope I didn't make you guys wait too long for this one! I made it extra long for you. By the way, 11k hits! Whoo! I feel uber cool now.

I was actually surprised with your generally positive comments on how I ended the chapter - I was quite worried that the sudden revelation was a bit cheesy. But you guys sure proved me wrong, so I can't complain.

Looking back on previous chapters, I noticed the massive typo in chapter 4 (half of it being underlined). Please tell me if stuff like that happens, because I don't re-read my chapters once they've been posted! I stumbled upon this one quite by accident!

And remember, please click the review button below and let me know what you think about the fic. It really encourages me to write more.

Desiraes0220: Yes, here's your virtual cookie (*) The asterisk is a virtual chocolate chip J

Witchysha: Thanks for the congrats, I also got my top pick in dormitories. College is going to be great! Hopefully I'll still have time to write this when I'm off at college (crosses fingers)

Melferd: Yeah, the best fics are like that, I and I want this to be good quality.

Alorkin: Once again, you have presented me with a massive review. I'll try to go through piece by piece:

The Twins are complicated characters. They hate Slytherin, but they might be able to get along with Harry in the future *hint*

I like Filch. He's a generally unpleasant character, but he still highlights Dumbledore's kindness. He's not completely useless, because students can fear him, while most wouldn't be afraid of a house elf. I'm pretty sure there was a train, they mention somewhere in the books that there is a Hogsmeade train stop for the express. It makes sense, and it's the best explanation I could come up with.

I like how you went through all your thoughts on the very brief Harry/Daphne portion. Your thoughts as it goes through helps me understand how I wrote it, and highlights the parts of further encounters that I need to focus on.

I'm starting to get the vibe you're not a fan of Filch's role in the books J. Don't worry, he's not a major character, more like a minor facet of my work. And he fulfils a double role as Janitor and Security Guard. Not a Security Guard in the way he protects the students from outside threats, but rather that he makes sure that the students toe the line. I don't know about outside of where I'm from, but that's quite common in the High Schools in my area.

As for the seeker being the most important, I'd have to disagree with you. While they determine whether you win or lose the individual game, I believe that Quidditch in competitive circles is more about scores over a season. While wins are huge over losses, the chasers and keepers are the biggest factors in keeping your ranking high. I'd probably rather have a good seeker than a good chaser, but three good chasers and a good keeper are more integral to a successful season IMO.

Thanks about the vote of confidence in my Draco representation. I tried to keep his essence while making him likeable.

You caught a typo with "her friends" in that line. It should have been "his friends". That's a pretty confusing typo, thanks for catching it.

Your comment about him not using a blasting spell - Harry doesn't know that kind of stuff. Blasting spells are quite probably dark, and if not, stupidly hard to do. If you look at the books, students never use blasting spells. They use jinxes or hexes, which are 'minor spells that are inconvenient and/or uncomfortable for the target'. He knew he was going to lose as soon as he saw them, but he didn't want to give up without trying.


	8. Chapter 8

- - -

**Lucius Malfoy Sent to Azkaban!**

**In a shocking statement this morning by the Ministry of Magic, Philanthropist and Governor of Hogwarts Lucius Malfoy was sentenced to a period of incarceration in Azkaban of no less than five years. From the words of the Minister's Press Secretary, he was indicted on "subversive actions, money laundering, and intent to commit high treason against the Ministry of Magic". Admittedly, this came as a shock to all, none more so than Mr. Malfoy himself. He was kind enough to give the Prophet a statement:**

"**Once I was freed from the Imperius Curse fifteen years ago, I had hoped that the stigma of being forced to work for the Dark Lord would be put aside in the common interest of building a strong new wizarding community after the war. Apparently, prejudices running deep from the wizarding war have incited high officials in the ministry, including Head Auror Potter and Minister of Magic Fudge to remove me from my position both at Hogwarts and at the Ministry. **

**They have come after me much like He-who-must-not-be-named and his terrible persecution of muggles. I fear for other former Death Eaters working diligently in the ministry attempting to clear their good names. This conviction is only the beginning of a dark and terrible chapter for the Wizarding society of England"**

**Head Auror James Potter was unavailable to comment on the subject, but considering that Mr. Malfoy fingered the man of one of the conspirators to put him in jail, it is almost certain that he favors the current turn of events.**

- - -

Harry signed as he read the paper. He knew something was up when dad told him, but he never would have expected something like this. And now he had to deal with Draco, who would be undoubtedly pissed at his father. This was going to be a nightmare - Lucius had never been in trouble with his father. Sure, there was some office rivalry from what he heard at home, but never any legal issues. Draco's father had been on the straight and narrow after he was freed from the Imperius. How the hell could something like this happen?

"That rat bastard!" Draco fumed as he threw down his own copy of the prophet, barely noticing it make a splash in his cereal "Your dad's a real prick, you know?"

"I'm guessing this means you won't visit during the holidays?" Harry smiled hopelessly. It wasn't like there was anything else he could do about it.

"There's no bloody way I want to be within ten meters of that man at any time! I mean, how could he lock my dad up for five whole years?"

"Yeah, I have to admit." Theo broke in "Your dad is a real arse for doing this. I mean, right before the holidays?"

"Hey, I have to live with him, you know." Harry replied jokingly. "Its practically Azkaban for me during holidays."

"You know what?" Draco abruptly "I think I've got to go. I really don't want to deal with you being an arse, Harry."

"What the bloody hell is your problem?" Harry snapped "It's not my fault what happened to your dad!"

"Just leave me alone!" Draco yelled back "Or I'll - "

"You'll what?" Harry retorted. He was sick and tired of Draco's whining. He was always high and mighty, and the one time things didn't go his way, he completely flipped out. Granted, what happened sucked a lot, but Draco had it coming to him.

"I'll hex you!" The Slytherin pulled out his wand and leveled it at Harry.

"Boys! Boys!" Slughorn waddled towards them as quickly as he could. "Draco! That is enough! Please restrain yourself! I won't have two of my most prized students start a fight in the middle of the Great Hall!"

"Fine." Draco spat bitterly "He wasn't worth it anyways. Crabbe! Goyle!" The two lumps got up from shoveling food into their mouths and flanked Malfoy out of the Great Hall.

"Harry, I know that he said some harsh things to you." Slughorn explained "But you have to let it go. Draco is upset about his father's imprisonment. And your father played an integral part in that. Let him be angry for a while. You two are good friends. Eventually, he'll realize that he's wrong in blaming you. I can't guarantee it'll happen anytime soon, but its better than the alternatives."

Harry sighed. Deep down, he knew that Slughorn was right, but he was still so angry at how Draco treated him. Hopefully, they could come to terms soon…

- - -

"Poor Draco, I feel bad for him." Hermione said as she watched the boy storm out of the Great Hall.

"Don't. His father's a bastard." Ginny remarked, not looking up from her copy of the Prophet, fixated on an article in the Witches section. "Huge racist. Hates muggles and muggleborn. He probably _is_ guilty of whatever charges they stick him with. And Draco's pretty much the same. Sure, he's a lot more quiet about it, but just think about it. Why did you think he picked on you when you were first years?"

"Hmm…" By this point, Hermione wasn't listening. She was looking at another Slytherin student now. Harry James Potter, to be specific.

"Hello!" Ginny waved her hand in front of Hermione's face. "Earth to Hermione! You there?"

"You were staring at Potter, weren't you?"

"Maybe." Hermione's face flushed, not entirely comfortable with admitting that fact.

Ginny sighed. "Why? After what he called you, I thought you were done with him."

"I guess." Hermione wasn't convinced. Him chasing her down the other day was admittedly romantic - at least before he dueled Ginny in the corridor.

"Trust me, I've known a few jerks like that." The Weasley implored her friend. "Move on. You'll be happier without him."

- - -

"Expelliarmus!" Lupin barked, trying to disarm Harry.

"Protego!" Harry almost blocked Lupin's attack, but the want slipped out of his fingers still.

"Good block." The professor exclaimed as Harry quickly picked his want back up. "You're becoming a pretty good duelist. However, you don't have a large amount of spells that you like to work with. Have you ever heard of the sword and shield principle of dueling?"

"A bit." Harry admitted. He had come across it in a book, but it was all nonsensical to him. "I didn't understand it, though."

"Well, its very simple." Lupin explained "Sword and Shield dueling is when you use two spells exclusively: one for attack and one for defense. Originally, it was meant to make for a honorable duel between two respected wizards. Nowadays, it's Dueling 101. You get comfortable with one offensive spell and one defensive spell. In your case, it would be Expelliarmus as your sword and Protego as your Shield. That way, once you start adding other spells into your dueling repertoire, you still have two spells you can fall back on. I think its time we start adding to your spells, starting with the stunning spell. That's one of the most important spells anyone fearing dark lords can learn. The incantation is _Stupefy_. Try it out."

Harry turned to the practice target. "_Stupefy!_". He hit the target square on, and it fell over backwards.

"Good!" Lupin exclaimed. He waved his wand lazily at the target, which returned to its upright position. "Your aim is excellent. Now, if that had been a living target, you would have knocked them unconscious. it's a lot more useful than Expelliarmus in a fight with someone trying to hurt you - most wizards won't stop just because you knocked the wand out of their hand. Try again."

"Stupefy!" the target got knocked down again.

"Excellent!" Lupin remarked. "You should definitely join the Dueling club next year. Is something distracting you?"

Harry had been staring intensely at a photo of Remus, Sirius, Peter and his father, an intense frown upon his face.

"I just don't get it, this whole business with Draco's dad." Harry sighed, sitting down on one of the desks. "Why would my father do that?"

"I quite honestly don't know." Lupin said, moving to sit next to Harry. "You have to realize, he's an Auror. That means that if someone breaks the law, its his job to lock them up. Sure, there may have been personal feelings between your father and Lucius, but in this case they were irrelevant. He was just doing his job. Now, lets try the stunning spell again…"

- - -

"I honestly don't get how you can study so hard for midterms." Ginny exclaimed from the doorway of the fifth years' girls dormitories. "How do you not just kill yourself?"

"The knowledge of earning good grades keeps me sane."" Hermione had almost finished packing her bag with all of her studying materials. Parchment? Check. Quills? Check. Reading material? Check.

"Ha. Ha." Ginny laughed dryly. "Why the library, though? Hoping to run into Potter?"

"No!" Hermione vehemently defended herself. "It's just a better study area!"

Sure, maybe some part of her hoped that she'd meet Harry there, but that was only a small part. More important were the study habits that earned her top marks.

Arriving at the library, she settled into her favorite table and set out all her materials. She pulled out the first textbook, _Transmodification and other Advanced Magics_, and opened up to the chapter on vanishing spells - they were almost guaranteed to be on Professor McGonagall's end of term test.

However, during the course of her study session. Potter did not appear at all. Part of Hermione was upset - she had hoped that he would try to talk to her again. Still, the majority of herself was glad that for what seemed like the first time the entire term, she had been able to study uninterrupted.

- - -

"Ugh! What's that smell!" Theo asked disgustedly as he entered the fifth years boys dormitories in the Slytherin dungeons.

Harry sat cross legged on the floor in front of a boiling cauldron giving off an acrid green smoke.

"You know you're not supposed to do potions in the dorms - we agreed about this first year!"

"My bad, I didn't think you guys would be back for a while. And I can't exactly do this in the library, now can I?" With a wave of his wand, the contents of the cauldron disappeared.

"You going to Slughorn's Christmas party alone?" Zabini asked, entering the dormitories as well. Harry mentally face palmed. Slughorn's Christmas party - how could he forget? The old professor was famous for his parties. Perhaps if he wasn't so busy with… other things, he would have remembered.

"Well, it's not like I'm going with Turpin or Greengrass, so I guess so. You guys going with anyone?"

"Davis." Zabini replied, laying down on the bed.

"Davis? Good catch!" Harry said, genuinely happy for his friend. If Greengrass was the hottest girl in Slytherin (even though she was pretty racist), Davis was by far the cutest. "Theo, I know you've already got someone."

"Brocklehurst from Ravenclaw." Theo said, smirking.

"What is it with you and younger women?" Zabini asked jokingly. "I swear, you get worse and worse each year!"

"Shut up." Theo shot back. Brocklehurst was pretty and smart, but she definitely wasn't on the same league as Davis.

But all good spirits left the room when Draco, Crabbe and Goyle entered. Harry and Draco still hadn't reconciled, so it was quite often very awkward in the dormitories. Theo and Zabini tried to avoid picking sides in the argument, but sided slightly with Harry. Harry was very grateful for that - without them backing him in the dormitories, he wasn't quite sure how Draco would treat him.

"You two going to the Christmas Party?" Draco mercifully ignored Harry.

"Yeah, we were just talking about that." Theo said. "You're going with Pansy, I presume?"

"I've got to go." Harry quickly said. He really hated spending time in the dormitories now - it quite often meant Draco was there as well. And he didn't want to get into a fight - especially not against Crabbe and Goyle. They might not have been the brightest in the year, but they had a nasty way with jinxes. "Tests to study for, you know."

- - -

"Ah, welcome!" Slughorn beamed as he opened the door up, ushering Harry in. "Happy Christmas!"

"Happy Christmas to you too, sir." Harry smiled politely back, genuinely meaning it. Slughorn's Christmas parties were some of the biggest highlights of the year. Harry remembered the last one, in which there were singing Christmas trees that danced through the room, and elves bringing individualized presents out for everyone in the room. If there was something Slughorn knew to do better than make potions, it was to throw amazing parties.

"Come with me, Harry! I have a wonderful surprise for you!" Slughorn exclaimed, leading Harry by the arm "I invited Victor Krum to the party! You know, he won the World Cup for Bulgaria last year!"

"Of course, I was there." Harry could barely hold his excitement. Victor Krum? He was the best seeker in Europe, most likely the world!

"I was regaling him about your perfect run as Slytherin team captain - and your amazing catches. He's very keen to meet you."

Harry could barely speak. Victor Krum - the best seeker ever - wanting to meet him? This was better than any Christmas present!

"Ah, Victor!" The man turned around - Harry did his best not to gape. It was Victor Krum! He measured up to everything Harry expected of him.

"Harry Potter." He said in a thick Bulgarian accent, bowing his head in respect "Your Professor here vos telling me about your season so far. Congradulations on the victories."

"…And congratulations on the World Cup victory!" Harry said after a few seconds of pulling himself together. "Brilliant! Just brilliant!"

"I'll leave you two to talk." The Potions Professor, no the best Professor ever Harry corrected himself, walked off to help facilitate the party.

"You sov the match?" The Professional Quidditch player asked.

"Saw it?" Harry exclaimed "I got box seats! Paid through the nose for them - I could only get them because the game was right around my birthday. Worth every knut, though. Perfect Wronski Feint! How long did it take Lynch to recover from that? I felt sorry for the poor bloke!"

"I've heard som good things about you as vell." Victor commented. He seemed a bit uncomfortable talking about himself. "That Spectator Snatch sounded quite advanced for just a school game. Most seekers in the British league wouldn't even attempt it. Haff you considered playing professional?"

"Maybe…" Harry flushed with pride. A compliment from Victor Krum? He hadn't really considered it seriously. As much as his father would love for him to play Quidditch professionally, his mother would never let him do it.

But then the magic of the moment was broken as people realized just who Harry was talking to. A number of the younger students mobbed the professional Quidditch player, begging for signatures. The man shifted uneasily, clearly not enjoying the attention very much.

"Tell Slughorn I haff to go." Victor called across the crowd to Harry. "I vould like to see one of your Quidditch games sometime!"

Harry barely managed a wave back at the man's retreating form, stalking to the door. Krum? Ask to see him in a game? He'd definitely have to talk to Slughorn about arranging it.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" A voice from behind Harry remarked haughtily. He knew that voice…

"Ron Weasley." He said as he turned around. Harry did his best to hide the shock when he saw the Weasel and Hermione together. "I thought they didn't let trash like you in. I mean, it seems like everyone else in your family at least has some talent. You, on the other hand, are quite useless at everything you do."

"Ha. Ha." He replied, quite clearly unable to come up with a witty comeback. "Hermione invited me. Would you like some punch, Hermione?" The girl at his side nodded, and the Ginger left the two alone.

"So…" Harry felt his stomach dropping like a stone. What did she see in the git? "He's your date?"

"Yes." Hermione haughtily replied. She kept silent about the part where Ginny strong-armed her into taking Ron to the party because the boy wouldn't stop complaining about never being invited to any of Slughorn's events.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments. Harry was still stunned. There was no way she actually liked Ron. It just wasn't possible! Everything he said about the boy was true. In fact, Harry had a sneaking suspicion that Mrs. Weasley had an affair with a troll or some other sufficiently stupid beast just to make him. There had to be some kind of mistake, he knew it.

"You know, you never told me why you're mad at me." Harry replied, trying to look as casual and nonchalant as possible. Maybe she was just trying to make him jealous?

"Does it really matter?" Hermione asked, still maintaining the upper hand in the conversation. Oh how she gloated on the inside. Every other time she had talked to the Slytherin boy, he had been the one full of wit and confidence. Now it was her turn to take charge!

Subtly slipping his wand out of his pocket, Harry waved it at a nearby piece of mistletoe, and floated it above their heads.

"You sure you don't want to forgive me?" He smirked, glancing up at the mistletoe, Hermione following his gaze. "I think you'll remember I'm a pretty good snogger."

For a moment, the two seemed frozen. Harry hoping that she would give up on whatever she held against him, Hermione weighing her anger against forgiving him so he could snog her again like the Halloween ball. And for just one moment, Hermione put aside any memories of cruelty she had suffered at the hands of this boy. She wanted to be happy. Hermione leaned forward slightly and…

"Here you go!" Ron had finally returned, much to the chagrin of both Harry and Hermione. "Why don't you find someone else to bother, Potter?"

"Just remember. The offer's still on the table." Harry remarked glibly as he walked away from the 'happy couple'.

As confident as his outer appearance seemed, Harry was inexplicably nervous. He always was cool and collected when it came to the fairer sex. What was it about the Gryffindor girl that got him so riled up? Was it the fact that she didn't just melt into his arms? Or maybe the fact that she wasn't a two-faced bitch like his recent, and admittedly regrettable, choices in women. Harry shook it off. Whatever happened now, it was out of his hands. He had made his move. It was now time for Hermione to make hers.

- - -

"Hermione, I can guarantee you this is a trap. He's setting you up to hurt you again." Ginny said flatly. She did not want to see her friend hurt again by a lowlife like Harry Potter.

"But like my auntie said, maybe he's just messing with you because he likes you." Parvati countered.

"I just don't know." Hermione sighed in frustration. She was just so confused by the entire situation. "Is he really interested in me? Is he just trying to make my life miserable? How do I tell?"

"You could just try talking to him." Parvati suggested "Make no commitments, don't fall for him. Just give him a chance to apologize. How can he hurt you with that?"

"Ignore him." Ginny countered Parvati. "Let him stew. If he is really sorry, letting him stew over this is just desserts for what he did. If he's just messing with you, he'll just get bored and give up."

Hermione sighed again. She really hated all this teen drama. Why did it have to happen to her. "I know at least that I shouldn't make a decision until after end of term tests. Mixing academic and personal is a bad idea."

Both the other girls shrugged, agreeing that it was a reasonable choice. "If that's what you want, Hermione." Parvati said "Don't you think that if you cleared the air with him, it would make things easier for you - less stress before the test?"

"No." Hermione said "I did fine in my classes without making out wi- I mean, making up with Potter." She flushed at the slip.

"If you say so…" Ginny replied, unconvinced. "'Night."

- - -

Finals passed uneventfully - at least, relatively uneventfully for Hogwarts. Only a couple of students 'blew up' quite literally due to the combination of stress and magic. Somewhat mercifully, after a stint in the hospital wing, they were still able to take their final tests.

"You bombed the charms test, I know it!" Blaise exclaimed to Theo humorously as they made their way through the great hall towards the Hogwarts express, bags packed. "I mean, casting a charm causing depression instead of that 'Jovial Jump' one we were supposed to? I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life!"

"Hey! That's not funny." Theo gloomily replied. He was still feeling the effects of the spell - he had to cast it on himself for the test.

"I'm still not sure that I got any of the Principal Exceptions of Gamp's Laws." Harry continued "I got the one about food and the one about love… what were the rest?"

"Dunno" Was the only reply he got from the other two.

"Bloody useful you lot are…"

"Harry!" He heard a voice from behind call. Turning around, he saw Hermione Granger. "Can we talk?"

"Good luck mate." Theo murmured in Harry's ear as he picked up his bag, Blaise and Theo continuing on without him. Harry felt nervous again, but this time, he felt calm, as if nothing was going to go wrong.

"So," Harry grinned "You decided to take me up on my offer?"

"Not quite." Hermione said, shifting from side to side. "I still haven't forgiven you."

"We come back to this!" Harry exclaimed dramatically, throwing his arms up into the air. What the bloody hell was she going on about? "I still have no idea what I did to you."

Hermione glared him a bit. Her patience with his denial was wearing thin. It had to be denial, he couldn't be that thick. "A while ago, you said some very nasty things about me. You were talking to your friends during dinner, and you said that if we ever went out, it would be a nightmare. Bloody ring a bell?"

Now Harry's hands were in a defensive position "I never said anything of the sort! I made a joke about if we ever were partnered up in class, but I never have said anything bad about you as a person. Well, not since Third Year, that is."

"You're unbelievable, Mister Potter!" Hermione exclaimed, not sure whether to laugh or be angry. "Not since third year? That's considerate - you only hated me for three of the five years that you've known me. And you think you can get me to snog you?"

"Well, would it help if I said I was sorry?" Harry drew closer to her, smirking kindheartedly. "Or maybe if I reminded you how great of snogger I am?"

Hermione considered it for a second. It was all so confusing. If he was telling the truth, and he had never said anything bad about her, then she should listen to Parvati and 'forgive him'. If she thought he was lying, and just trying to hurt her, which seemed quite unlikely at this point, she should follow Ginny's advice and refuse to have anything to do with him. Hermione felt torn. Her brain and her heart were saying two different things, and she didn't know which one to listen to.

_Oh, screw it. _She thought to herself. _I've been listening to my brain for far too long. _

In a moment of pure hormones, she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. She felt her entire body from head to toe tingle as she locked lips with the Slytherin boy. Her mortal enemy. From an objective view, the scene would seem completely wrong, yet to Hermione, it felt completely right.

They broke apart, breathless. Hermione glanced at him shyly, still not completely sure what happened.

"Should I take that to mean that you forgive me?" Harry smirked, elated. After the Halloween Ball, he had worried that he would never find her. And now, just under two months later, he had found her.

"Maybe." Hermione smirked back, belying the legion of butterflies in her stomach. She didn't know whether she wanted to dance victoriously or throw up. "You might need to pay me back with some snogging sessions before I think that you really mean it."

"Of course. I wouldn't expect any less of you. Should I start gaining your trust right now? We can probably find a private cabin on the express."

"I can't, sorry." Hermione apologized "I promised to sit with Ginny and Parvati on the ride home."

"Oh." Harry would admit he was a little put out. Still, he had landed the girl of his dreams. That had to count for something, right?

"Actually, I've got to go. Write me?" Hermione pulled out a bit of parchment and a quill. "Here's my address if you want to send your owl." Once she handed the piece of parchment to Harry, she turned and left Harry to be amazed by the turn of events.

Harry had found the perfect girl, gotten her to admit her feelings for him, won every game of Quidditch in the entire season, and had gotten near perfect grades in all his classes barring some bad luck on the end of term tests. All in one term! Quite honestly, Harry couldn't wait for the next term - perhaps he could reconcile with Draco. And maybe earn the Order of Merlin, First Class while he was at it!

- - -

A.N.: Another long chapter. I hope that you guys like the ending I gave to chapter. Next chapter or two will be the Christmas Holidays. And you know what Christmas Holidays means? Sirius! And then back to School. But I'm more excited about Now that I've broken forty thousand words, I guess its time to break out the champagne - I'm in the big leagues now :P!

While looking at the number of hits, I discovered a disturbing little factoid. Apparently, Chapter 5 has more hits than any chapter other than chapter one. Which means that more people read chapter 5 than people who read chapters 2, 3, 4, 6, or 7. Either someone really liked that chapter or I'm completely stumped.

Also, you may or may not have noticed that I've started to go back and edit chapters of the story. I'll do this whenever I've got writers block. Fortunately, none of the changes will be substantive, just better detailing, phrases that make more sense and et cetera. I don't just want this to be a 100,000+ word fic, I want it to be a good 100,000+ word fic.

Noigan: Yeah, I kinda made it obvious that they were going to end up together. However, I guarantee nothing for the planned sequel! :P

Davek86: Yeah, Snape's been in the plans for a while. He'll become a character either at the end of this fic, or during the sequel.

Slytherin's Pimp: Oh, I won't reveal what's going to happen right away, but there will be an ultimate reconciliation eventually. As for your comment on the Weasleys, I will admit that I find them to be overall quite boring in canon sometimes. I hope that my portrayal makes them more interesting, if not likeable.

Melferd: Well, you hit it square on there. I hope that this chapter responded to your questions in an eloquent and interesting manner.

Pstibbons: Meh, what can I say? It's quite similar to canon, I just tweaked it to have it make sense/fit Snape in for the sequels. I hope you can forgive me.

As you may have noticed from my responses, there is a planned sequel to follow this fic. I'm debating whether or not to break up the fic into 5th, 6th, and 7th years. Thinking yes, but not too sure right now. Guaranteed is the post-Hogwarts fic about Harry as an Auror. It will be compliant with my Bookwyrm AU universe, and I hope a decent piece of writing.

As always, I Implore you to click the button below and tell me what you think of the fic. Also, if you haven't noticed already, I put chapter process notes in my profile, so you can get a day-to-day update on my progress.


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry for the wait. A.N. will explain.

- - -

Harry found Blaise and Theo on the express. Thankfully they had saved a compartment for him - without Draco and his goons. Harry was very glad for that. That would have made for a very awkward train ride home. Harry would have probably tried to find another compartment. He shuddered at the prospect of being stuck in a compartment with someone like Loony Lovegood from Ravenclaw - there were some real nutters at Hogwarts.

"She snogged me." Harry told them, trying to hide his enthusiasm by putting away his bags.

"You did what?" Theo chortled as Harry told Blaise and him about his encounter with Hermione before they boarded.

"Congrats, mate! She really was into you. I have to admit, I thought you were a bit mental for a while there."

Harry punched Blaise in the arm lightheartedly. How could he be angry right now? The girl of his dreams just confessed that she liked him. This was better than beating Hufflepuff, or talking to Krum! Well, maybe not meeting Krum, but everything else, of course.

"What's your plans for Christmas?" Blaise asked Harry.

"Dunno." Harry replied. He hadn't really thought about it much with all the busy work at school. "Christmas eve and morning we're going to be home - Sirius, Remus and Peter are coming over. For the rest of it, I don't know for sure. You?"

"I think we're going to Moscow for the holidays." Blaise said. "Mother's met someone from the Rasputin Institute for Wizardry - higher level magical education."

"She going to make you go there?"

"Of course not. The school's not particularly dark, but it's got a pretty bad reputation out here. If mother put me here, I'd never be able to get a job in the Ministry."

"How about you, Theo?"

"Nothing much. Just another stay at my Aunt's house before coming back to Hogwarts."

Both Harry and Blaise were quiet. Theo's father had been arrested for torturing muggles right before he came to Hogwarts. With his mother dead and his father in Azkaban, he had to go stay with his aunt during the holidays.

"You know, Theo - I could probably talk to my parents and see if you could come stay with us for part of the holidays. You know, like third year.

"If you're sure, Harry. I don't want to impose or anything."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Harry. "I bet they wouldn't mind - my dad loves having you around."

"Thanks, Harry. I really appreciate it." Theo genuinely smiled. He loved staying with the Potters. They were so unlike his family - full of excitement and joy.

"No problem, mate. I'd do the same for you."

- - -

"**Here, let me introduce you to my friends." Draco told Harry as they entered the compartment. Sitting there were two boys: one very dark skinned boy, and one very tall. **

"**Hi, I'm Blaise Zabini." The dark boy rose to shake his hand. "You're Harry, potter, yeah?"**

"**Yeah." Harry replied, beaming. Here, he wasn't known as "James and Lilly Potter's kid" - they actually knew him for him.**

"**And that's Theodore Nott over there." Draco pointed to the tall boy.**

"**You can call me Theo. Theodore's so stuffy and old." Harry shook his hand as well.**

"**So, what house do you guys think you'll be sorted into?"**

"**Slytherin." They all promptly answered.**

"**Why's that?" Harry asked.**

"**Well, it's cause our parents - " Blaise paused, glancing nervously at Theo. The boy waved him off.**

"**Our parents were all in Slytherin." He finished for his friend. "Blaise, you don't have to worry about my feelings, it's not like I can do anything about it."**

"**What?" Harry asked, confused.**

"**My father was sent to Azkaban for being a Death Eater." Theo explained, a slightly sad look on his face. He immediately brightened up "But enough about my dad - where do you think you're going to be sorted?"**

"**Dunno." Harry replied. In fact, he hadn't thought about it very much. "Both my parents were Gryffindors, so I guess I'm going to be sorted there too. But I don't want to be a Gryffindor."**

"**Yeah, they're a bunch of bloody morons!" Draco smirked from his position. The entire group had a good laugh - even Harry joined in. Here, he felt like he truly belonged. Harry felt a pang of sadness as he realized he'd probably never get to be friends with them. Gryffindors and Slytherin never got along, after all.**

**The door slid open, and a boy in Slytherin robes stepped in, probably seventh year. "Draco Malfoy? Blaise Zabini? Harry Potter? Professor Slughorn would 'very much like' your presence in his cabin."**

"**Why?" Blaise asked.**

"**You haven't heard of the Slug Club?"**

"**No." They were first years - how were they supposed to know that much about Hogwarts?**

"**Slughorn picks the best and brightest of Hogwarts to be part of his Slug Club. You get to meet the students at Hogwarts that actually matter - and there's pretty good food too."**

"**Is Theo on your list?" Harry piped up.**

"**Who?"**

"**Theodore Nott." **

"**Nope. Slughorn didn't mention him."**

"**He probably doesn't want anything to do with the son of a Death Eater." Theo said, his eyes cast downwards.**

**Harry grabbed Theo by the arm "Well, I don't think that's a very good excuse. Come on, if you come with us, he can't refuse you."**

**The older boy just shrugged his shoulders and led the group out of the compartment.**

"**Thanks, Harry." Theo told him. "But I have to admit, that was pretty Gryffindor of you."**

"**Shut up."**

- - -

"Honestly, I don't know what you see in him." sighed Ginny as Hermione related the story of what happened with Harry

"I'm so glad for you Hermione!" gushed Parvati, ignoring Ginny's skepticism. "I told you - if you talked to him, you'd clear it up."

Hermione smiled. This was the happiest she'd been at school in a very long time. It had always been 'ace this test' or 'write that essay'. For the first time, she didn't have to care about academics - now she had something her own, something separate from classes.

"What are you doing for the holidays?" asked Ginny "You should come to the burrow for some of it."

"I'll definitely ask my parents." replied Hermione. "They love that I'm a witch - they'd probably go for it. Parvati, what are you doing for Christmas?"

"We're going to spend it here in London." said Parvati "We planned to visit our Uncle Swami in Calicut, but he's got his hands full. There's a wizard's revolution going on in India."

"Really?" asked Hermione "I don't remember hearing about that in History of Magic."

"You wouldn't." replied Parvati "Binns isn't interested in it unless it happened last century. The revolution started maybe ten years ago. After you-know-who became so powerful, a whole bunch of wizards in India decided they could do the same. For the most part, they haven't proved to be successful, but it's been very hard for the magical law enforcement to keep it in check."

"Fascinating!" Hermione exclaimed, truly interested. "I'll have to try to find some literature on that."

- - -

Harry, Blaise and Theo all got off of the express. Many children were reuniting with their family for the first time since September, and there was more than enough emotion running through the station. Harry craned his neck looking for Hermione - he hadn't seen her get off of the train.

"Harry!" Lily Potter rushed over to him on the platform. "We've missed you so much."

"I don't - I enjoy the quiet!" Quipped James. Harry glowered at his father. It was all his fault for Draco hating him.

"_Bloody wanker_." Harry muttered under his breath. Thankfully, neither of his parents heard him.

"Can Theo come stay with us for the holidays? I know it's on short notice, but…" Harry's parents looked at each other nervously. They knew about Theo's situation. It quite probably didn't make it any easier that Theo was standing just there.

"We need to talk about this, Harry" said his Mother "If you remember, we said you were grounded for Christmas holidays."

"And anyways," Harry's father cut in "I'm sure that your Aunt would love to see you, especially if you're gallivanting off to Italy with Blaise this summer, Theo. You should stay at least a couple of days with your family. If Harry resolves his 'grounding issue', then we'll come pick you up sometime next week. Sorry, Theo."

The boy nodded graciously, but it was quite obvious to Harry that Theo was a bit crestfallen. With a sad grin, he turned to Harry "Well, maybe see you later."

"I'll owl!" Harry shouted after the boy as he joined his Aunt to leave the station. The woman was positively sour looking - which was somewhat reasonable when she had to be reminded of how her brother in law killed her sister.

"_What were you thinking?_" Lily hissed insistently. "_You had to know we couldn't say yes here!_"

"What the bloody hell was I-!"

"Language…" James cut it off, glancing nervously at the rest of the crowd. "Your mother is the one who really believes in the grounding for the Holidays, and personally, I think it's more punishment to Theo than you Harry."

"You're not helping!" Harry's mother slapped his father's arm. "What I think your father's trying to say is that we're open to discussion on this topic. Come on, let's go home before the lines for the Floo get backed up."

Harry looked around one last time for Hermione, but saw neither hide nor tail of her. Resigning himself to not being able to see her one last time before holidays, Harry followed his parents to the floo.

- - -

**They all entered the compartment as directed by the older boy. It looked as if Slughorn had knocked out the wall and put two compartments together, yet it was still a bit too cozy. A large table took up most of it, covered in all manners of strange foods and delicacies. There were a number of chairs that encircled the table, all filled with first years. Some of them seemed nervous and perplexed, but the majority exuded an air of confidence and pride. Draco, Blaise, Harry and Theo tried to squeeze in, but ultimately were unable to allay the sense of gentle suffocation.**

"**Ah, welcome!" The old man beamed at them. "You must be Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Zabini and Mr. Potter!"**

**All three of the boys nodded nervously. They weren't quite sure what to think of the slightly bloated man as he passed them some cooked pheasant.**

"**I'm not sure I recognize you, though…" Slughorn squinted appraisingly at Theo. "Who are you?"**

"**My name's Theodore Nott…" He quietly said.**

"**And he's our friend!" Harry jumped in. "I hope you don't mind that we invited him, do you?"**

**Slughorn paused for a second. He hadn't wanted Nott, especially with the Death Eater father, but if it would help him keep the other three, then perhaps it was worth it.**

"**Of course!" He beamed. "Now, Draco, tell me - how's your father doing?"**

"_**Thanks, Harry.**_**" Theo whispered as Draco excitedly talked about his father's recent philanthropic efforts. "**_**You sure you don't want to be in Gryffindor?**_**"**

"_**Definitely.**_**" Harry replied "**_**Slytherin seems much more fun.**_**"**

- - -

"Oh, Ginny! Ron! Hermione!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, drawing them into a bone-crushing hug. "It's so good to see you all again!"

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley." Hermione smiled. Ever since Hermione and Ginny had become friends in second year, the Weasley had taken her in as one of their own.

"Mum, can Hermione come stay at the Burrow during the holidays?" asked Ginny.

"Well, of course she's welcome." Mrs. Weasley immediately replied. "You'll have to check with your parents, though, Hermione dear."

"I think they'd say it's okay." Mr. Granger commented wryly as Hermione parents approached "I'm sure that they'd be too proud of their witch of a daughter to argue otherwise."

"Mom! Dad!" Hermione beamed, hugging her parents. "I've missed you so much!"

"You too, kiddo!" Ms. Granger exclaimed. Looking at her watch, she beckoned. "Sorry to pry you away from your friends, but we have to go to Grandfather Tom's house… it's going to be a long drive."

Hermione nodded. "See you later, Ginny, Ron, Mrs. Weasley."

The present Weasleys chimed in with a quick "Bye!" before Hemione's parents rushed her off to the car.

Grandfather Tom and Grandmother Heather were dad's parents. They didn't know that Hermione was a witch - the letter from Hogwarts when she was first invited implored them to keep the secret as quiet as possible. But still, they were great. She remembered all the time she had spent with them when her parents had to go to conventions for their work. They had a pleasantly large house in the countryside, which, more importantly, had a large library. None of them were magical, of course, but there were a large number of fascinating tomes all the less. Quite honestly, she couldn't wait to get there.

- - -

_**Dear Hermione,**_

_**I'm glad that we were able to work out our differences this term. I think you're amazing. In fact, I'm not quite sure why you're in Gryffindor. I can't stand those knuckle dragging morons, but you're different. You sure you weren't supposed to be put into Ravenclaw? You seem like a Ravenclaw. I guess that you'd get that quite often from your housemates.**_

_**How have your holidays been going? I'm doing fine here - mom and dad are at work, so I get to watch the muggle Television mostly. Not entirely entertaining, but its better than waiting around for Christmas (Just one more night of waiting!). Quite honestly, I can't wait for the next term to start. All the Hogsmeade trips, all the time that we can spend together instead of waiting for our owls to arrive makes all the work I'll have to do worth it.**_

_**- Harry James Potter**_

Not ten minutes after he had sent Hedwig off with his letter for Hermione, there was a loud pop! at the doorstep, and a knock on the door. Harry knew only one person who it could be.

"Sirius!" beamed Harry as he opened the door. Sure enough, the thirty-something year old man was standing on the doorstep "Come on in!"

"Thanks, Harry. Your dad is just finishing up a spot of trouble at the office. He'll be here soon." After Harry's dad had fought Voldemort for the first time, he decided to join the Aurors like some of the other members of the Order. Eventually, Sirius followed suit, and they were some of the most senior members in the department to this day. "Happy Christmas, by the way."

"Want anything to drink?" asked Harry as he made himself busy in the Kitchen. He hadn't had much of anything to eat all day - he had been so bored that he forgot to fix himself lunch. As he put together a quick sandwich to tide him over to dinner, he called out "Water? Milk? Pumpkin Juice? Muggle Soda?"

"Muggle soda?" asked Sirius, confused.

"Yeah, this stuff called Ginger Ale." said Harry through a mouthful of turkey sandwich "It's like kinda like Butterbeer - they make it with this stuff that makes it bubble. If you haven't tried it, you should."

"Then I shall partake of this 'Gin Ale'" Sirius sighed melodramatically, making himself comfortable on the couch.

"Ginger Ale" Harry corrected him as he popped his head through the doorway and threw a can at him.

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to open this infernal contraption?" he asked as he struggled to drink his beverage.

"Pull the tab!"

"Merlin!" Harry finished his quick meal and returned to the living room to find Sirius covered in the drink.

"_Combisiccio!_" Harry cast through bouts of laughing, returning the contents of Sirius' beverage to its container.

"Those Muggle drinks are so hard to use - how do they even figure out how to use them?"

"Lots and lots of practice, Sirius." Harry's father had finally arrived. "You should have seen the time Lily introduced me to them."

"Hey dad."

"Just 'Hey Dad'? You used to be way more enthusiastic for the Family Christmas dinner."

"Well, Mom and Remus aren't here yet, so I don't have to be excited yet."

"Kids these days…" Sirius sighed.

- - -

_**Dear Harry,**_

_**I'm so very glad that we cleared this up too. For the longest time, I wasn't sure whether or not you liked me. Without all the confusion, things just seem so much better.**_

_**Just to set the ground rules for this relationship, I'd appreciate it if you didn't disparage my house. You may not like all Gryffindors (I can tell from how you and Ronald get along), but that doesn't mean that you need to be antagonistic to us as a whole. What about Parvati? What about Lavender? Even Neville doesn't seem that bad. I just think that you got off on the wrong foot with us Gryffindors - you should try to be on better terms with some of the others.**_

_**As for the Christmas Holidays, they've been very good. I visited my grandparents, which was nice. Now I'm at the Weasleys. They were kind enough to have me for the latter part of the holidays, including Christmas eve. My parents were unfortunately going to be out of town for the 24th**__** and most of the 25**__**th**__** on business, so it all worked out for the best. They're flying back Christmas morning, so I'll still be able to spend the later part of the evening with them.  
**_

_**I'll admit that Ron is being more than a bit annoying about me staying here - he keeps on trying to figure out who sent me the letter. If he wasn't so phenomenally lacking in subtlety, I'd think that he is actually interested in me. Ginny's been kind enough to ward him off whenever possible - I told her about us. I hope you don't get mad. She thinks I'm crazy, but she's a good enough friend to respect my decision. She's a really great friend in fact. I hope that you two can at least be less combative in the future despite house rivalries.**_

_**What are your plans for the New Year? I'm new to this whole 'dating' thing, but if we could, I think it would be amazing to spend the 31**__**st**__** together.**_

_**- Hermione Jean Granger**_

"Bloody nosy git!" muttered Ginny as Hermione sent off Hedwig back to Harry. "Ron's getting worse and worse about your whole correspondence thing. I bet he's just too bored to do anything else. So, did you finish your letter to Ikkle Harrykins?"

Hermione playfully shoved her friend "As if he'd ever let me call him that… as if I'd ever let _myself_ call him that. We have too much pride for that."

"You realize Ron's going to blow his lid when he finds out about you two. He'll be ranting about how you're 'fraternizing with the enemy'. I can't say I completely disagree with him. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Harry's a complete gentleman." Hermione resolutely stated. "He just… really hates Gryffindors. It's a pity - it seems like every Slytherin student hates us."

"And we hate them." retorted Ginny "It's tradition!"

"But don't you think that there's something wrong with that?" Hermione asked "I mean, why should people judge other people based on how a hundred year old hat judges them?"

"Again, tradition!"

"You shouldn't be so judgmental. There's a lot of very good looking boys in Slytherin."

"Like Crabbe and Goyle? Harry must be very jealous."

"No, not them!" Hermione's face turned as red as Ginny's hair. "What I mean, is that you shouldn't judge them by their House."

"So I should just pick superficially like you, Miss 'I-got-the-super-hot-Quidditch-Captain-Potions-Genius'?" Ginny teased.

"Dinner!" Mrs. Weasley called from downstairs, and the conversation was left at that.

- - -

"Merry Christmas?" Harry mumbled as he was woken up by stumbling in his room.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." his father quipped, still clumsily moving around. "Have to find my glasses. Sirius and I have to go to work before opening presents. Have you seen them?"

"Ugh…" Harry glanced at his alarm clock, then glared back at his dad. "It's bloody three in the morning! Why would you think that my glasses were even in here?"

"Hey! Language - don't let your mother hear you say that." James warned him "I went into your room last night to get a present that I was hiding from your mother. You know that cabinet your mother loved from Grandpa Potter's house?"

"Yeah…" Harry mumbled, desperately hoping that the man would leave him alone.

"I refurbished it after he passed away, shrunk it, and put it in your closet." He muttered, going over all the surfaces that he could look at. "I'm an idiot!"

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking."

"Ha. Ha. _Accio Glasses!_" called James, and his glasses shot into his hand.

"Why is it even so important that you get to work so early in the morning?"

"Some moron on a broomstick flew into a muggle Airplane." He stopped at the doorway "Normally it wouldn't be a matter of the Ministry of Magic, but since a Wizard caused it, we have to clean up the mess. Two of your classmates parents were on the flight. They're in critical condition. She wasn't with them on the flight, so we need to find her."

"Who?"

"Hermione Granger."

- - -

A.N.: Well, another chapter. I hope I didn't disappoint with the latest installment of this fic. As you may or may not have noticed, I have started a Naruto fic as a side project (I mentioned it in the previous A.N.). Well, due to the popularity of that, I will be working both this and that fic equally, rather than focusing most of my time on this one. Hopefully, I will be able to keep up with both in a way that satisfies the two different groups of readers. Thankfully, I have decided to put off my original piece of fiction project until well after I'm done with these J

Also, at the beginning, I promised an explanation for my tardiness. Well, I've been so busy with finishing school and my new job (teaching science at summer camp whoo!) that this project has fallen by the wayside. Fortunately, I got back on the saddle, and this will go on.

Another note: my PSP (which I usually use to read fics online) says that the site is down, but on my comp, its up and running. What gives?

Pstibbons: I'm toying with both options right now, and I'm still not sure how to go. The Auror training sequel is going to be written very differently from the light romance style of this fic, so I think it needs to be separate. However, I don't think I'll split up the years in favor of your fans.

I wouldn't count on Harry asking his parents from advice. I hope this chapter sort of outlined the relationship that he has with them when he spends more than a few minutes with them.

Also, on a side note, I took a look at your profile page. Holy crap, you have a lot of stuff on it!

Teekim: Thanks for the encouragement. I always love to hear from my readers.

Celexis Draconia: This chapter and probably the next will see little, if any, reconciliation between Draco and Harry. If it doesn't last for a while, then its pointless to the story.

Thank you for making the parallels between Harry and his father. The base idea of this fic (which not too many have grasped (or at least posted as a review)) is that Harry is a broken mirror of his father. Sure, there might be a big focus on H/Hr romance, but that was one of the underlying themes I wanted to put into the fic. He forms his own group of 'marauders' - compiled of his Slytherin buddies. He's very talented in one of the classes required to be an Auror - but Potions instead of Defense Against the Dark Arts. He falls for a muggleborn like his father (not sure where the broken part of the mirror comes in here…). Basically, the idea is that these little pointers to their similarities will continue until Harry is prepared to reconcile his differences with his father.


	10. Chapter 10

- - -

"…Hermione Granger?" Harry croaked, finally awake.

"Yeah." James stopped in the doorway "You know her?"

"Yeah…" Harry's mind was racing. How was she going to handle this? How was he going to handle this? He hadn't told his parents about him and Hermione. But that didn't really matter right now - Hermione's parents were in the hospital. "She's staying with the Weasleys."

"Oh, how do you know that?" His father's eyebrow crept up.

"She's a… friend" said Harry cautiously, not sure exactly how to say that.

"Oh. Ah…" James caught on "That's a bummer. You want to come with me to break the news?"

"Sure" Harry replied mechanically, his mind still on the insanely quick turn of events. As he slowly changed out of his pajamas into normal clothes, he waved his dad out the door.

How the hell had this happened? Everything had gone from wonderful Christmas eve - Sirius and Remus came for the obligatory dinner, they were even supposed to have the Christmas morning Quidditch match after opening presents - to this. Harry could only hope that Hermione enjoyed her Holidays so far.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry was fully dressed and made his way downstairs. Sirius and his father were waiting by the fireplace.

"I've already talked Molly Weasley, she said we could come over whenever. She was even kind enough to offer us breakfast. I've let Mum know that you're coming with Sirius and I. We'll join Remus and your Mother for dinner, after we've talked to Hermione and taken care of everything in the Burrow."

- - -

"My parents are what!" She screeched. Hermione had woken up to a very agitated Mrs. Weasley ushering her downstairs, where Mr. Potter, Sirius Black, and Harry were all waiting for her. Before she even knew what was happening, they told her about how her parents had almost died.

"Don't worry, Miss Granger, they're fine." Sirius sighed "Since this is a wizard-caused accident, they were immediately forwarded to St. Mungo's hospital. They're going to be out for a couple of days as the Healers fix all the broken bones and internal bleeding."

"We can take you there after Breakfast, if you wish." Mr. Potter told her. "They won't be conscious, but I'm sure they'd appreciate the sentiment."

Hermione nodded still in shock. How the hell had this happened? She had just seen her parents a little bit over a week ago. Hermione ran her hands through her hair. It wasn't setting in very much - perhaps she just needed to give it time.

"Excuse me…" She whispered, and quickly ascended the stairs.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, could you help me set the kitchen table for breakfast? With all the extra mouths to feed…"

Harry's dad and Sirius quietly joined Mrs. Weasley in exiting the room, leaving Harry alone on the couch. He sighed, still not sure what the bloody hell he was doing in the middle of the Weasley's living room all alone. Of course, this was all for Hermione. Even though they had only spent a tiny amount of time actually together, he still felt it was important to be there. How would he like it if someone had killed his parents? Sure, he didn't get along with them, but they were still his parents.

As Harry contemplated these deep thoughts, Fred and George Weasley descended the stairs, presumably to sneak an early peek upon their Christmas presents.

"Well, well." One started

"It seems to be our least favorite Slytherin." finished the other.

"Care to tell us what you're doing here?"

"My dad's here on business… not that I should tell you two." Harry grimaced. He really wasn't looking forward to seeing any Weasels this morning. He was severely outnumbered and on their turf. That meant that Harry wouldn't be able to fight with them.

"Well…" Harry guessed Fred said - he was never very good at telling the Weasel Twins apart.

"… good for you. Having fun?" He hated the Twins' habit of finishing each other's sentences. Bloody annoying, he wasn't sure how anyone else got used to it.

"My, my, my." said one of the Twins as they bent down and picked up a small packet. "George, we seem to have dropped one of our creations."

"Perhaps the esteemed Mr. Potter would like to try it?" Harry could only assume George said. Fred (or at least who he thought was Fred) threw the packet to him. Turning it over in his hands, he grinned.

Slughorn had given a potions book about making prank candy as a Christmas present. He had turned around and made prank candy for his gift to everyone this year. The extras of his 'Steaming Snaps' must have fallen out of his pocket when he had first arrived.

"No thanks, I know what these are." Harry said, tossing it back to her. "I'm pretty sure they aren't yours. Maybe you should try them?"

Fred opened the wrapping "Oho!"

"It seems that we aren't the only prank candy developers at Hogwarts!" George exclaimed "My hat's off to you, Mr. Potter."

Both of them made a little mock bow. "What do they do?"

"Try them out." Harry grinned mischievously "I promise you they aren't dangerous."

- - -

Hermione threw herself on her bed, sobbing silently. Somewhere between seeing Harry in the family room and running back upstairs, the reality of what happened set in. Her parents were hurt because of a wizard. A wizard that could have just as well been her. Well, not her, of course - she hated to fly, and she was here at the Burrow - but the point was made nonetheless.

"Happy Chris'mas, 'ermione." Ginny mumbled out of her pillow when she heard the door open. As she slowly came to her senses, she realized that Hermione was crying. "What's wrong?"

"My parents." Hermione choked out "They're in St. Mungo's!"

"What! Why?!?"

"Some bloody Wizard flew into their plane!"

"Are they going to be all right?"

"Yeah…"

"Then why are you so upset? Sure, you should be worried about them, but they're fine." said Ginny matter-of-factly. "Come on, it's Christmas. Enjoy the holidays, open the presents, then I'm sure mum'll take you to St. Mungo's to see them."

"Harry's here with his dad to take me…"

"What?"

"His dad's the Head Auror, so he just tagged along."

"And you're in here crying and worrying about your parents when you could be snogging him? You'd better hurry before Ron sees him. He'll raise a bloody fit about Potter." Hermione wiped the tears away - Ginny's practicality was really cheering her up.

"Mom!" they both heard Ron yell.

"Bloody hell, what has he done this time?" Ginny muttered as the two

- - -

The entire population of the burrow filled the family room to witness Ron and Harry with wands at each other's throats. Sirius and the twins stood to the side, looking vaguely amused at the whole situation. Ginny and Hermione were at the top of the stairs, shaking their heads. Mrs. Weasley and James looked downright furious.

"Ron!" Mrs. Weasley admonished "Put your wand down! That's not how you treat a guest!"

"Harry!" James barked "Drop that wand now!"

Both boys reluctantly put their hands down, holstering their wands. Though, if looks could kill, the glares they were pointing at each other would have been more effective than any _Avada Kedavra _curse could be.

"I'm so sorry Mr. Potter, my Ron-"

"No, it was probably a bad idea brining Harry over here in the first place." James reluctantly cut in "House rivalries and such. I think we'll have to scrap the breakfast and take Hermione over to St. Mungos now. We'll bring her back in a couple hours."

- - -

"What the bloody hell do you think you were doing?" James whispered to Harry angrily. After quickly retreating from the Weasley home, they immediately took Hermione to her injured parents. No longer needed, Sirius went back to whatever he did at 12 Grimmauld Place in his free time. Probably seducing women, Harry surmised.

"He attacked me! What do you expect me to do? Just let me hex him?" Harry shot back, making sure his voice couldn't be heard by Hermione in her parent's hospital room. "I thought that's why you had Remus teach me how to duel."

"But that doesn't exactly mean you go looking for fights." His dad replied, not happy with Harry's answer. "You're not the only one Remus has been talking to - he told me you give as good as you got at school."

"And you can honestly tell me that you didn't do the same when you were at Hogwarts?"

James shifted uncomfortably "Yeah… well, I'm not so proud of a lot of things I did there. I was a terrible little thug back then. Do as I say, not as I do."

"Whatever." Harry turned his view to Hermione and her two parents laying in the bed. They were lying unconsciously in their beds, heavily bandaged from all the contusions they had suffered in the crash. Hermione looked like she was on the verge of crying, just sitting there.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone for a bit." James said, patting Harry on the shoulder "I need to take care of some things at the office. I'll be back in a hour or two."

As his father's footsteps quietly faded down the echoing halls, Harry settled into the seat next to Hermione.

"Hey" Harry put his arm around her to offer support "You okay?"

"Yeah." Hermione sniffed "It's just… so hard to see them like this. They're supposed to always be there for me, but now I have to be there for them."

Harry just sat there, not exactly sure what to say. Comforting words weren't exactly a Slytherin strong suit. But one thing that he knew from all his years of dating girls that a pair of ears and a comforting shoulder would be more than enough in this situation.

Hermione took the offer readily, burying her face into Harry's shoulder. Despite the gravity of the situation, Harry felt his heart rise like the first time he had ever liked a girl. Sitting there silently, he realized how grateful he was to be with her. He was definitely much better off than his first attempt at romance.

- - -

_**It was love at first sight for Harry. Well, more like puppy love. He started to notice her just a month into his first year at Hogwarts. It was Tracey Davis, same year as him in Slytherin. She was half-blood like him, and didn't seem to care about all of that "blood purity" stuff that some of the stuffier Slytherin did.**_

_**Harry hadn't noticed many girls before her, but she was impossible for him to ignore. She had long straight brown hair, and piercing blue eyes. That was about as much as Harry knew; he was almost afraid to even talk to her.**_

_**But two months further into the year, he hadn't done anything about it. He was still uncomfortable with a lot of the attention that the other students gave him because of his parents. While he acted quite normally amongst his newfound friends of Draco, Blaise, and Theo, he was quite shy towards others. To put it simply, he had trouble working up the courage to talk to her. His friends all tried to encourage him to talk to her as best he could.**_

"_**Go for it." Draco advised "You're a proud member of Slytherin, that should be more than enough for any girl."**_

"_**Just go ahead and talk to her." Theo encouraged "Words can't really hurt you."**_

"_**Aw, man." Blaise complained "Why can't I find a nice girl?"**_

_**Eventually, this encouragement led to Harry asking her to the next Quidditch match after Potions one day. It took a lot of effort on Harry's part to keep his voice steady, but it paid off when he said yes. After she said yes, he smiled wider than ever before.**_

_**The Quidditch game was a major success; Slytherin won and Harry earned a peck on the cheek from the beautiful Tracey. All of the Slytherin first year boys were quite jealous with his successful exploit. Though he probably wouldn't admit it, Draco asked out Pansy Parkinson soon after, and it was widely rumored that he was driven to do so by Harry going out with Tracey.**_

_**However, it was doomed not to last. Harry unfortunately stumbled upon Tracey and a Ravenclaw making out in the hallway just after the Christmas holidays. Harry was pretty furious, and almost hexed the two of them - Theo had recently discovered a particularly nasty one that caused the victim to sprout bats made of their own snot out of their nose.**_

_**But after that, Harry retreated from meeting other girls. It just didn't seem worth it anymore.**_

- - -

Harry was glad that he had finally grew out of his discouragement as he sat there with Hermione. It had been a couple hours since Harry's dad had left them. Hermione had stopped crying, and just held Harry tightly.

"Thanks for coming." Hermione said, "I really appreciate it."

"No problem." Harry replied, still not totally sure what exactly what to say. "I just heard my dad mention it and I just tagged along…"

"Really - I'm very grateful that you came." Hermione smiled. Harry smiled back. They leaned in closer to each other, Harry tilting his head to better reach Hermione's soft lips. After what felt like an eternity, they finally made contact.

"Oy!" Harry's father interrupted, causing Harry and Hermione to abruptly jerk apart. "It's time to go, you two. Mrs. Weasley wants you back for dinner, and I have to drop you off Harry so I can go get Theo."

Somewhat disappointed by the abrupt end to only the second opportunity they had to snog in their relationship, they followed him sullenly to the Floo. James stepped away from the two to throw the powder into the fireplace, as brilliant Emerald flames shot up.

"Owl me!" Hermione called as she stepped into the flames, quickly transporting herself to the Weasley residence.

"Quite a nice girl you've got there - Molly told me all about her." James remarked "Top marks, no disciplinary issues, even a Gryffindor. To say the least, I strongly approve."

Harry threw him a dirty glare "You had better not tell mum. Or I'll-"

"Don't worry, I won't say a word to her." James rose her hands defensively. "But I guarantee you she'll find out eventually - she always does."

"Whatever - let's go home." Harry muttered.

"_Godric's hollow._" James said as he threw the floo powder into the fireplace. "You go on ahead. I'll go pick Theo up from his aunt's"

- - -

Harry heard a familiar pop at the doorstep from someone Apparating to the house. Moments later, Harry's father opened the door, Theodore Nott right behind him.

"Theo!" Harry beamed. After the debacle with Hermione's parents, it was so nice to finally see his friend.

"Hey, how's it going, Harry?"

"I'll go get the bags, then I'll floo Sirius. He'll want to make up the Christmas Quidditch match."

"Come on, Theo - let's get the brooms out." Both parties left to take care of their own tasks.

"How's the holidays been, Theo?" Harry asked as he opened up the broom shed behind the house.

"Quiet. Thanks for that candy you made - what was it called?"

"Steaming Snaps - I came up with them myself. Slughorn gave me an early Christmas present - 'Supernatural Sweets and other Magical Chocolates'. The entire book's bloody brilliant, covers all the basics on how to make the kind of stuff that Honeydukes comes up with."

"Sounds cool." Theo grinned as he sifted through the brooms in the closet for his favorite. Harry's dad was big into Quidditch, and had a full stock of Firebolts. Still, each one had slight differences in their temperament as with all magical objects, and Theo had ridden them enough to tell the difference.

"Yeah, I'm going to make some really nasty ones for the Weasel twins. I talked to them over the break, and they're working on their own line of prank candy. Apparently, they're making a killing - you know how Filch is about stuff from Hogsmeade."

"Wait." Theo frowned "When did you talk to the Weasel twins?"

"My dad took my over to their house during the break." explained Harry "Hermione's parents were in St. Mungo's, and she was staying with them."

"That sucks." remarked Theo "How are you two holding up?"

"Fine, fine." Harry said, extricating his broom from the top shelf where he put it when he was home from school. "It was nice seeing her, even though it was terrible timing."

"I'd bet."

"And her parents are fine, so Hermione's bouncing back pretty quickly."

"You sound pretty happy for her. I guess Slytherin and Gryffindors really can get along."

"Don't let my dad ever hear you say that." Harry remarked as they got their favorite brooms out of the shed.

"Hear him say what?" James was standing next to Sirius.

"How bad we're going to trash you two at quidditch." Harry responded, grinning.

"Oh, really?" Sirius smirked "Shall we modify little Theo's opinion, James?"

"Oh, lets!" James replied "Lets go get some brooms and teach them a lesson."

Just a few minutes later, and the four of them were standing in the spacious land that accompanied Godric's Hollow. Sirius and James had quickly transfigured a set of Quidditch hoops out of the ground. They also brought out a Quaffle for the match.

"Well, you two know the rules" James said, deftly spinning the Quaffle on the tip of his finger "First team to five goals scored wins."

"You know, you can just give up now and save yourself the time." Harry quipped.

"Like that's going to happen." James shot back, throwing the Quaffle in the air. The game was on!

- - -

Harry and Theo got up early on the last day of the winter break to floo to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. It was a few trips through the fire, but finally they had all their bags ready to be carted onto the train.

"Well, back to Hogwarts!" James exclaimed happily as he shook hands with Theo and Harry. "Best wishes to the both of you!"

"Oh!" Lily sighed sadly "I'm going to miss you Harry! Theo, take good care of him!"

"I will, Mrs. Potter." Theo replied as she hugged them both.

"Well, gotta go!" Harry exclaimed, clearly anxious to get on the train.

"Okay, okay, we won't hold you here." Harry's father laughed. "Go on, we'll see you at the next quidditch game."

Harry and Theo hurried onto the train; the hustle and bustle of students was less than the beginning or end of term, but still quite crowded. Through the crowd, Harry saw Draco and Pansy flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. Harry's stomach dropped like a stone. He had completely forgot about that dilemma over the craziness of the Holidays. Just another thing on the list of things he had to resolve by the end of the year. It was going to be quite a crazy term.

- - -

A.N.: I know that I made a pretty nasty cliffy, so I tried to finish this as quickly as possible. However, summer jobs and massive writers block really set me behind in the creative department. I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to complete it in a timely manner for you. Well, better late than never, right? Right? 8(

20,000 Hits! Whoo! I feel so great right now. To my Naruto fic readers, I apologize for doing two chapters of Bookwyrm in a row - I was inspired and couldn't leave it alone.

On another note, I'm assuming all of my constituents saw Half Blood Prince. It's been a while since I last posted, and I'm assuming that if you read Harry Potter Fanfiction, you watch the movies. I don't know how you all feel (I see myself on the very moderate end of the Fandom rabid scale), but I was very happy with it. The extra bit in the beginning with the girl at the subway stop fit in nicely and cut out the Dursleys (which by book six seemed a bit forced to me anyways). Also, a lot of the changes made the movie adaptation flow better, even though it may anger hardcores. Less of Tonks, but established romance between sets up for movies 7a and 7b. Ginny and Harry just felt smoother, Hermione/Ron was funny and good (my only complaint there was the Lavender breakup, in which I really would have loved that to play out exactly as the book dictates).

My only issue was Cormac. He did not seem like a bad guy at all. I really liked him in the movie actually, actually. The only sense of unpleasantness was Hermione's whining about him (it was whining because there was nothing to base it on). She hexed him for apparently no reason in tryouts (except maybe they wanted to establish Ron/Hermione). Cormac in the movie just seemed like a guy that was really cool, but everyone picked on ('Dragon Balls' - oh man, I cracked up so hard)

If you would like to register your opinion on the movie with me, feel free to PM me.

Cenright: I hope you enjoyed this chapter a little better. Also, I'm not quite sure why you don't like my sequencing. Bold is flashback, Bold + Italics is writing. Are they not showing up in the fic (I don't look at them after going through Document Manager's editing.)?

Dougal74: It's not so much that he hates everything about his father - more like he hates his father's personality. He doesn't feel that he should limit his opportunities just because of his father. Whether or not he decides to be an Auror isn't 100% now, I am considering a couple other things to do as a sequel. Perhaps Hogwarts professor, or some other mystery ones which I will keep silent on.

ErikArden: Voldemort isn't dead yet if you count the of times Voldemort loses. James is capable of beating him - just like how Regalus was able to destroy a horcrux. Unless it isn't the final piece, the prophecy isn't broken. Also, Voldemort has failed to mark either Neville or Harry. Until he does, the prophecy hasn't taken hold. I've given a lot of room for Voldemort to end in the fic.

Freak1798: I'll try to keep the cliffies a bit less evil next time.

Celexs: Thanks. I'll try to keep this fic at the same level of quality.

Thanks to everyone else who was kind enough to review.

Also, please click on the review button and let me know what you think. It's really what makes me want to write more.


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